Political Science

Static Ambition in a Changing World: Legislators' Preparations for, and Responses to, Redistricting

Document Type

Article

Abstract

How do members of Congress anticipate and prepare for redistricting? I present data from the 1992 redistricting cycle that indicate that one reason why we rarely see changes in representation after redistricting is that incumbents change both their legislative activities and their campaigning prior to the first post-redistricting election. To examine incumbents' behavioral anticipation of redistricting in more detail, I also present a case study of incumbents' activities prior to the 1998 court-ordered congressional redistricting in North Carolina. I find that these incumbents participated actively in the redistricting process and made behavioral adjustments before they began to represent their new districts officially. These types of adjustments were often subtle, including changes in casework, local projects, and the allocation of staff and campaign resources.

Publication Title

State Politics and Policy Quarterly

Publication Date

2004

Volume

4

Issue

4

First Page

436

Last Page

454

ISSN

1532-4400

DOI

10.1177/153244000400400405

Keywords

U.S Congress, American politics, redistricting, North Carolina

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