Credit Claiming Practices of Female Members of State Black Legislative Caucuses

• In Event: Examining Black Legislative Caucuses

Abstract

Constituency caucuses are a space for advocates to collaborate with legislators on policies based on shared identities such as race and gender (Hammond 1998). Currently, ten states have LGBTQIA+ caucuses; twenty-four women’s caucuses; thirty future caucuses (for legislators under the age of forty); and seventy-five racial/ethnic identity caucuses, including thirty-four Black caucuses, eighteen Hispanic/Latino or BIPOC caucuses among others (Mahoney and Shaffer 2022). Caucuses facilitate lawmaking by fostering cosponsorship among members, contributing to legislative success (Holman, Mahoney, and Hurler 2021). Despite the individual need for credit, legislatures as institutions necessitate coalitional politics, especially for marginalized members, so how are caucus members able to take credit for this collective representation?
While studies have considered the various gendered differences in the political communication styles of members of Congress, little is known about how party and race intersect with gender to influence credit-claiming behavior (Dolan and Kropf 2004; Gabryszewska 2018). Further, considering the importance of collective representation among marginalized members, traditional evaluations of individual credit-claiming practices is warranted. This paper specifically centers party, gender, and race to understand coalitional politics and legislative communication styles

Authors

• Nadia E. Brown, Georgetown University

• Christopher Jude Clark, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

• Anna M. Mahoney, Dartmouth College