Swarr Prize Lecture

DateOctober 10, 2016

Time12:00pm to 1:30pm

Location
4357 Bunche Hall 

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Abstract:Scholars have established that the emergence and success of Latinos running for office is primarily driven by district demographics. Nonetheless, the Latino presence in Congress continues to be limited despite the rapid growth of the Latino population. What, then, is driving the disproportionate rates of Latinos in Congress? We argue that candidate-specific characteristics do not disadvantage Latinos in succeeding when running for open-seats, but their candidacy, at the pre-emergence stage, is sensitive to potential challengers and the extent to which Latinos can access party resources. We utilize an original dataset of primary candidates for open-seats from 2004 until 2014 that encompasses data on each congressional district and data specific to the campaign of each Latina/o candidate. Our dataset also includes latent contenders or  “almost-rans” who did not enter the race.  We find that Latino candidates do not underperform in open-seat primary elections because of candidate-specific characteristics. However, Latinos are predicted to receive fewer resources from both their political party and its network. Our findings indicate that the poor integration of Latinos into partisan networks is largely responsible for their limited presence in Congress. 

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