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Trends in the Partisan Composition of State Legislatures: A Response to Fiorina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Jeffrey M. Stonecash  and
Anna M. Agathangelou
Jeffrey M. Stonecash
Affiliation:
Maxwell School, Syracuse University
Anna M. Agathangelou
Affiliation:
Oberlin College
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Abstract

The percentage of state legislative seats won by Democrats in nonsouthern states has increased steadily since World War II. Fiorina (1994) argues that this is because of the professionalization of state legislatures: Legislatures now meet longer and pay higher salaries; legislative positions which require more time are less attractive to Republicans, who can make more money elsewhere; higher salaries attract Democrats, who make less in the private sector. That analysis has several serious flaws. First, nonsouthern states have gradually become more Democratic at all levels as part of a long-term regional political realignment. The rise in Democrats in legislatures outside the South is due more to this realignment than to legislative professionalization. Second, trends in southern states contradict his hypothesis. Professionalization has increased, but state legislatures are becoming more Republican. Finally, Fiorina's analysis is worth careful reconsideration because it suggests that there is little connection between constituencies and partisan outcomes.

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American Political Science Review , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , March 1997 , pp. 148 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1997

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