PO111: Congress 1 (Content)

What’s a MC (member of Congress)’s primary responsibility?

To their constituency

What’s a constituency?

Citizens who reside in the district from which an official is elected

What are the two views of legislative representation?

Delegate and Trustee View

What’s the delegate view?

They vote according to constituent preferences

What’s the trustee view?

They vote according to what they think is best

What are the three different types of representation?

Agency, descriptive, and substantive

What’s agency representation?

Elected officials (agents) act on behalf of constituents (principals) to make decisions in their best interest

What’s descriptive representation?

There’s a match between the constituent and the representative on some trait (gender, race, identity politics, and the like)

What’s substantive representation?

The idea that a MC represents and acts on the preferences of their constituents

What’s the Fenno reading about?

He studies MCs and considers four groups of ppl that a typical representative considers subsets of their constituency

What are the different constituencies mentioned by Fenno?

• Geographical constituency (district)

• Reelection constituency (supporters)

• Primary constituency (strongest supporters)

• Personal Constituency (inmates)

What’s the main takeaway from the Fenno reading?

MCs view their constituencies as concentric circles and prioritize strong supporters and likely voters because their primary goal is reelection.

What’s the electoral connection involving the Mayhew reading?

Politicians are ambitious and want to get reelected/run for higher office so they need to advertise, credit-claim, and take positions

What’s the big takeaway from the Mayhew reading?

Members of Congress behave primarily as single-minded seekers of reelection, and this goal explains most of what they do in office.

What’s incumbency?

Holding a political office for which one is running

What are incumbency advantages?

• Committee assignments

• Patronage (federal jobs/services that can form bonds w constituents)

• Pork-barrel legislation (bringing fed money to a district)

• Fundraising networks

• Name recognition

What are some facts about congressional districts?

• 435 total seats

• Every ten years, House districts must be reapportioned to reflect population changes

• The way district boundaries are drawn can advantage one party over another (gerrymandering)

Which term describes the act of redrawing congressional districts to give unfair advantages to the political party in power?

Gerrymandering

What’s the difference between redistricting and gerrymandering?

• Redistricting describes House districts being reapportioned to reflect population changes

• Gerrymandering is the manipulation of this process, advantaging one party over another

What are the implications of gerrymandering for representation?

• Reduced competition (helps incumbents)

• Skewed outcomes (parties can win w/o winning the popular vote

• Diluted minority voting power