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Institutions and Representational Roles in American State Legislatures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Christopher A. Cooper  and
Lilliard E. Richardson Jr.
Christopher A. Cooper
Affiliation:
Western Carolina University
Lilliard E. Richardson Jr.
Affiliation:
University of Missouri
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Abstract

What is the impact of a legislature's institutions on the representational roles its members adopt? We address this question by examining the role orientation of state legislators in eight states, explaining why some legislators identify more with a trustee model of representation and others identify more with the delegate model. Using ordinal logistic regression analysis on data from a survey of 447 legislators, we test for the effects of multimember districts and term limits, along with several other factors. First, we find that representational roles and behavior are related; legislators who think of themselves as delegates are much more likely to hold frequent district office hours than their counterparts who think of themselves as trustees. Second, we find that, overall, legislators are more likely to consider themselves trustees than delegates. Third, we find that multimember districts and term limits increase the likelihood that legislators think of themselves as trustees. Thus, legislative institutions can influence the representational roles legislators adopt.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , Summer 2006 , pp. 174 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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