Changing Boundaries, Changing Behavior? Incumbent Responses to Redistricting

• In Event: Legislative Effectiveness

Abstract

Do changing electoral incentives affect how members of Congress represent their constituents? Every ten years, congressional redistricting provides members with newly drawn districts to advocate for in Congress. The difference between a member's district before and after redistricting, however, is highly variable, with some members representing virtually the same constituencies and others representing entirely new ones. In this paper, we take advantage of data on the direction and magnitude of partisan changes to members' districts to examine the effects of redistricting on members' voting and communication styles. Combining data on roll call voting with a new collection of House member tweets, we find some evidence that members of Congress vote and communicate differently following redistricting, but these changes are modest. In other words, we observe more continuity than adaptation.

Authors

• Michael Kistner, University of Houston

• Jaclyn Kaslovsky, Washington University in St. Louis