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ARE MAJORITY MINORITY DISTRICTS TOO SAFE?

A look at the Alabama State Legislature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2019

Brandon R. Davis
Brandon R. Davis*
Affiliation:
Political Theory Project, Brown University
*
*Corresponding author: Brandon Davis, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Political Theory Project, Brown University, Box 2005, 8 Fones Alley, Providence, RI 02912. E-mail: Brandon_Davis@brown.edu
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Abstract

How does gerrymandering affect intraparty and interparty electoral competition in state legislatures? Research has shown that electoral competition produces better representation and that descriptive representation positively affects substantive representation or policy outcomes. However, other studies have found an ever increasing incumbency advantage. I argue that the incumbency advantage within Majority Minority Districts is significant and distinct from that of majority White Democrat and Republican districts. I estimate levels of intraparty and interparty competition among Majority Minority Districts, majority White Democrat districts, and majority White Republican districts in the state legislature of Alabama. I use majority White Democrat districts as an intraparty comparison group because of African American’s statistically high support for the Democrat Party. Using three separate measures of competitiveness, I find racial gerrymandering in Alabama has a significant and sui generis negative effect on competition within Majority Minority Districts, compared to majority White districts.

Keywords

Majority Minority DistrictsIncumbency AdvantageBlack PoliticsSouthern PoliticsState LegislaturesElectoral Competition
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , Spring 2019 , pp. 157 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 2019 

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