The Redistricting Cycle, Partisan Tides, and Party Strategy in State Legislative Elections

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6383716
AutoresTodd Makse (0000-0002-4739-7637, Susquehanna University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2014
Volumen14
Número3
Páginas342-363
Fecha de publicación2014-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaState Politics & Policy Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1532-4400 • E-ISSN: 1946-1607
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1532440014537503
OpenAlexW1968861003
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas50

State legislative elections are increasingly shaped by two factors that influence the prospects of winning a majority: the redistricting cycle and partisan tide elections. Winning control of the redistricting process offers the prospect of shaping elections for the next decade, making majority status significantly more valuable than it otherwise might be. Partisan tides, on the contrary, can dramatically alter perceptions of which seats are safe or vulnerable and of whether majority status is obtainable or not. In this article, I examine how the proximity of redistricting and the presence of partisan tides are reflected in the strategies of the party organizations that contest state legislative elections. Using party finance data from 29 states during the period from 1996 to 2010, I find that parties' majority-seeking behavior is more intense in states with legislative redistricting, when redistricting is imminent, and when partisan tides favor the minority party

CONTEST · Economics · Gerrymandering · Legislature · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Redistricting · State (computer science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies