The Impact of Changing the Racial Composition of Congressional Districts on Legislators' Roll Call Behavior

Abstract

The 1991-1992 redrawing of congressional districts produced the greatest changes of any remapping since the mid-1960s. In many states, particularly in the South, the driving force was the Justice Department demand that majority-minority districts be drawn wherever possible. In this article the author explores the consequences of changing the racial composition of districts on legislative behavior. A measure of conservatism and a measure of support for civil rights concerns serve as the dependent variables. Comparing voting records of southern legislators in 1993 with those from the 102nd Congress shows that freshman Republicans were particularly conservative and more senior representatives were often more conservative. Some evidence suggests that first-term Democrats were more liberal than their predecessors. At first it appeared that legislators modified their voting records in response to changes in the racial composition of their districts. Once further controls were imposed, it became clear that the relationship between constituency change and roll call voting was limited to Black legislators who replaced Whites.