Abstract
The 2018 election produced the most diverse Congress in history. That major democratic achievement stands alongside troubling patterns that saw women and people of color occupy a diminishing presence among the ranks of Republican representatives. This chapter reviews important developments in congressional diversity, analyzes the factors that led to candidacy and success by female and nonwhite candidates, and discusses the implications of this momentous election for congressional lawmaking and future partisan contests.
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Notes
- 1.
United States Census Bureau, “Quick Facts Texas,” 2019, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/tx. “Demographic Profile of Hispanics in Texas,” Pew Research Center, 2014. http://www.pewhispanic.org/states/state/tx/
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Kevin Modesti, “What You Need to Know about the 27 SoCal Representatives in the New Congress,” Los Angeles Daily News, January 2, 2019, https://www.dailynews.com/2019/01/02/who-represents-so-cal-in-the-new-congress/
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C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), 225–241.
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Mills, 248–249.
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Thomas R. Dye, Who’s Running America? The Obama Reign, 8th ed. (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Press, 2014).
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Richard L. Zweigenhaft and G. William Domhoff, Diversity in the Power Elite, 3rd ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).
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Jennifer E. Manning, Membership of the 115th Congress: A Profile, Updated December 20, 2018, v24 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2018), https://crsreports.congress.gov R44762. See also U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Clerk, Congressional Profile, http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/cong.aspx, and Membership Profile, https://library-clerk.house.gov/membership-profile.aspx. Interactive maps, available at https://history.house.gov/Map/Mapping-Congress/ provide historical information on women, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Pacific Islanders. Information presented in this chapter on the 116th Congress was current as of January 3, 2019.
- 8.
Michele L. Swers and Stella M. Rouse, “Descriptive Representation: Understanding the Impact of Identity on Substantive Representation of Group Interests,” in The Oxford Handbook of The American Congress, ed. Eric Schickler and Frances E. Lee (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 241–271. Michael D. Minta and Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, “Diversity in Political Institutions and Congressional Responsiveness to Minority Interests,” Political Research Quarterly, 66, no. 1 (March 2013): 127–140, https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912911431245
- 9.
David Hawkings, “Wealth of Congress: Richer Than Ever, but Mostly at the Very Top,” CQ Roll Call, February 27, 2018, https://www.rollcall.com/news/hawkings/congress-richer-ever-mostly-top
- 10.
Hawkings.
- 11.
Randy Leonard, “Every Member of Congress’ Wealth in One Chart,” Roll Call, March 2, 2018, https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/every-member-congress-wealth-one-chart
- 12.
Paul V. Fontelo, “Congress Cashes Out as Rich Members Depart,” Roll Call, December 21, 2018, https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/congress-cashes-out
- 13.
Manning, 7–8.
- 14.
Mitchell, Ellen. “Record number of female veterans to serve in next Congress.” The Hill, (November 13, 2018). www.thehill.com
- 15.
Eric R. Hansen, Nicholas Carnes, and Virginia Gray, “What Happens When Insurers Make Insurance Laws? State Legislative Agendas and the Occupational Makeup of Government,” State Politics & Policy Quarterly (November 2018, online first): 1–25, https://doi.org/10.1177/1532440018813013
- 16.
Dye, 78.
- 17.
Adam Bonica, “Why Are There So Many Lawyers in Congress?” (August 28, 2017). https://ssrn.com/abstract=2898140 or https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2898140
- 18.
Mills, 248.
- 19.
Beatrice Jin, “Congress’s Incoming Class is Younger, Bluer, and More Diverse Than Ever,” Politico, November 23, 2018, https://www.politico.com/interactives/2018/interactive_116th-congress-freshman-younger-bluer-diverse/
- 20.
Emily Cochrane, “Too Old to Be a Freshman in Congress? Donna Shalala Doesn’t Care,” New York Times, December 30, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/us/politics/donna-shalala-congress.html
- 21.
Pew Research Center, Religion & Public Life, “Faith on the Hill: The Religious Composition of the 116th Congress,” January 3, 2019, www.pewforum.org/2019/01/03/faith-on-the-hill-116/
- 22.
Mills, 127; Zweigenhaft and Domhoff, 5.
- 23.
Zweigenhaft and Domhoff, 15–43.
- 24.
“The Role of Religion in Politics,” The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, September 11, 2018, www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages/The-Role-of-Religion-in-Politics.aspx. David Crary, “AP Poll: Voters Open to Candidates Who aren’t Very Religious,” Associated Press, September 11, 2018, https://apnews.com/0c6a4a7510b64498a2238fe304aec746
- 25.
Todd Spangler, “Detroit Congresswoman to Use Jefferson’s Koran for Swearing-in Ceremony,” Detroit Free Press. December 18, 2018, https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/12/19/rashida-tlaib-koran-muslim-congresswoman/2338912002/
- 26.
Josh Magness, “New Muslim Congresswoman to be Sworn In with Thomas Jefferson’s Centuries-old Quran,” January 3, 2019, https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article223866655.html 2019.
- 27.
Michelle Boorstein, “Rep. Ilhan Omar Prompts New Rule That Allows, for the First Time in 181 Years, Head Coverings on House Floor,” Washington Post, January 4, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/01/04/rep-ilhan-omar-prompts-new-rule-that-allows-first-time-years-head-coverings-house-floor/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d08adfad99f6
- 28.
Julie Moreau, “Bisexual Candidate Katie Hill Hopes to be Part of Democrats’ ‘Blue Wave,’” NBC News, June 7, 2019, https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/bisexual-candidate-katie-hill-hopes-be-part-democrats-blue-wave-n880901
- 29.
Some sources identify 110 women as serving in the 115th Congress, depending upon whether Louise Slaughter (D-NY), who died in office, is included. A male candidate won the special election to serve the rest of the term.
- 30.
Susan M. Hartmann, From Margin to Mainstream: American Women and Politics Since 1960 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989).
- 31.
Clyde Wilcox, “Why Was 1992 the ‘Year of the Woman’? Explaining Women’s Gains in 1992,” in The Year of the Woman: Myths & Realities, ed. Elizabeth Adell Cook, Sue Thomas, and Clyde Wilcox (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994), 1–24.
- 32.
Kelly Dittmar, Kira Sanbonmatsu, and Susan J. Carroll, A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Presence Matters (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018).
- 33.
These results extend Dolan’s 2010 research that finds that gender has declined as a barrier to elective office. Instead, voters evaluate Democratic candidates as more aligned with so-called women and family issues and Republican candidates as more aligned with masculinized policy issues like national security. This gives Republican men an advantage over both female and male Democrats in Republican-leaning districts and Democratic women an advantage over both female and male Republicans in Democratic-leaning districts. See Kathleen Dolan, When Does Gender Matter? Women Candidates and Gender Stereotypes in American Elections (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014). Hayes and Lawless, in research on the 2010 and 2014 House midterm elections, find that men and women now run similar campaigns and receive similar media coverage. They also find partisan differences in issue emphasis rather than by candidate gender. See Danny Hayes and Jennifer L. Lawless, Women on the Run: Gender, Media, and Political Campaigns in a Polarized Era (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
- 34.
Walter Clark Wilson, From Inclusion to Influence: Latino Representation in Congress and Latino Political Incorporation in America (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017).
- 35.
Tim Scott, “Tim Scott: Why are Republicans Accused of Racism? Because We’re Silent on Things Like This,” Washington Post, January 11, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/11/tim-scott-republicans-can-no-longer-be-silent-bigotry/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c36c31e6a900
- 36.
Mark Z. Barabak, “Local Government was a Last Bastion for Struggling California Republicans. Not Anymore,” Los Angeles Times, December 17, 2018, https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-on-politics-column-20181217-story.html
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Wilson, W.C., Godwin, M.L. (2020). Toward a More Inclusive Union? Examining the Increased Diversity of Candidates and Members of Congress. In: Foreman, S., Godwin, M., Wilson, W. (eds) The Roads to Congress 2018. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19819-0_2
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