House Party Switchers and Committee Assignments
Who Gets “What, When, How
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6300337 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Antoine Yoshinaka (0000-0001-7118-0473, University of California, Riverside, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 391-406 |
| Publication date | 2005-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Legislative Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0362-9805 • E-ISSN: 1939-9162 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3162/036298005x201608 |
| OpenAlex | W2013057502 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 20 |
| References cited | 22 |
What are the political consequences for members of Congress who switch parties? Roll-call and electoral consequences of congressional party switching have been studied, but other implications of party defections have yet to be systematically explored. In this article, I examine the committee assignments of House party switchers and argue that party leaders seek to reward members of the opposing party who join their ranks. Using committee assignment data from the 94th House (1975–76) through the 107th House (2001–02), I show that party switchers are more likely than nonswitchers to be the beneficiaries of violations of the seniority norm. The findings from this article are of interest to students of political parties and legislative institutions, and fill a gap in the literature on party switching. When you joined the Republican Conference on August 6, 1995, the elected leadership ...determined that your accumulated seniority in the Congress would be credited when you joined the Republican Conference.... Therefore, the Republican Steering Committee's Seniority List ranks you nineteenth in overall conference seniority and designates May 22, 1980, as the beginning of your tenure in the House for purposes of Republican seniority. Letter from Speaker Dennis Hastert to party switcher Billy Tauzin, April 4, 2000.1
Democracy · House of Representatives · Legislature · Lower house · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Roll call · Seniority · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Policy Transfer and Learning · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Administration
Congress in Black and White
Infrastructure as the Magnet of Power
Party switching and political outcomes
Listen to What I Say, Not How I Vote
High Hurdles
Government termination and anti-defection laws in parliamentary democracies
Congressmen in Exile
Unpacking Agenda Control in Congress
Changing patterns of party unity in the Knesset
Rethinking intra-party cohesion
Late to the parade
How Citizens Judge Extreme Legislative Dissent
Ideological Positions and Committee Chair Appointments
Parliamentary Cycles and Party Switching in Legislatures
The Electoral Consequences of Party Switching in Canada
Dealing in Discipline
Ideological Hedging in Uncertain Times
Who Donates to Party Switchers
La generización del proceso de asignación de comisiones en un contexto paritario
The effects of personal campaign financing on party defection
The Congressman
Congressional careers
Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House
Committees in Congress
U.S. Senate Committee Assignments
Torn and Frayed
A Research Note on the Committee Reassignments of Southern Democratic Congressmen
U.S. House Committee Chair Selection
Look for the Party Label
The Growth of the Seniority System in the U. S. House of Representatives
The Rise of Seniority in the House of Representatives
Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data
Congressional Party Defection in American History
The Electoral Consequences of Party Switching by Incumbent Members of Congress, 1947–2000
Dynamics of Congressional Loyalty
The Value of Committee Seats in the House, 1947-91
The Morse Committee Assignment Controversy
Committee Assignments in the House of Representatives
Democratic Committee Assignments in the House of Representatives
The Hunt for Party Discipline in Congress
| Unique citing works | 20 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,11 |
| Citation span | 2008 - 2025 (18) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 20 |