The Institutional Mobility of Minority Members of Congress

• Published date: 01 December 2011
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912910379225
• Author: Jason L. Morin,Gabriel R. Sanchez,Michael S. Rocca
• Date: 01 December 2011

The Institutional Mobility of Minority

Members of Congress

Michael S. Rocca1, Gabriel R. Sanchez1, and Jason L. Morin1

Abstract

This article examines the extent to which race and ethnicity affect mobility to leadership positions within Congress.

The authors utilize survival analysis to examine the rate at which legislators attained committee leadership positions

between the 101st and 108th Congresses. The results show that black legislators attain leadership positions faster than

white legislators. This may be because of the tendency for black members of Congress (MCs) to sit on less prestigious

committees than white MCs, which creates greater opportunity for institutional promotion. Ethnicity, on the other

hand, does not matter to mobility as Latinos acquire leadership positions at the same rate as non-Latino legislators.

Keywords

Congress, race, ethnicity, mobility, committee leadership

In 2006, Democrats gained control of the 110th Congress

for the first time in twelve years. Among other things, the

110th Congress demonstrated some landmark changes

in the composition of the House of Representatives as a

record number of minorities attained committee leader-

ship positions. Indeed, the advancement of Nancy Pelosi

(D-CA) to Speaker of the House seemed symbolic of a

greater trend happening within the U.S. Congress. For

example, Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) became the first His-

panic woman to chair a full committee and four African

Americans became full committee chairs. Representa-

tive Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) acquired the Ways and

Means chair, the late Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA)

became chair of House Administration, Representative

John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) gained the Judiciary position,

and Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS) now leads

Homeland Security.

As “players with extra cards” (Hall 1996) these leaders

now possess the ability to shape the agenda, pass legis-

lation, and distribute benefits to colleagues and constitu-

ents. Not only should these promotions aid minorities’

individual pursuits of reelection (Fenno 1973; Mayhew

1974), but also they may yield greater substantive repre-

sentation for minorities nationally (Swain 1992; Cannon

1999; Menifield and Jones 2001). Even despite subpar lev-

els of descriptive representation in Congress overall, the

advancement of Latino and African American members

of Congress (MCs) to leadership positions in Congress

may shift the agenda toward issues of particular interest to

these communities.

These electoral and representational implications make

promotion within Congress a prominent goal of individual

member MCs (Fenno 1973). Students of Congress have

long examined the formal and informal factors that

contribute to an MC’s promotion. Such determinants

include seniority (Hinckley 1969), party loyalty (Cox

and McCubbins 1993), and her or his level of legislative

entrepreneurship (Wawro 2000). This article examines

one additional factor: race and ethnicity. Survival analy-

sis is used to examine the rate at which legislators attained

committee leadership positions between the 101st and

108th Congresses. The results show that black legislators

attain leadership positions faster than white legislators.

However, this may be because of the tendency for black

MCs to sit on less prestigious committees than white MCs,

which creates greater opportunity for institutional pro-

motion. Ethnicity, on the other hand, does not matter to

mobility as Latino MCs acquire leadership positions at

the same rate as non-Latino MCs.

Though this article fits squarely within studies of

descriptive and substantive representation in Congress,

it also has implications for other congressional research.

It is the first to use survival analysis to model the time it

takes MCs to acquire committee leadership positions. As

such, the results speak to a wide range of issues in con-

gressional behavior such as the relevance of political

parties as well as the importance of voting records and

entrepreneurial activities to institutional mobility.

1University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Corresponding Author:

Gabriel R. Sanchez, University of New Mexico, Department of

Political Science, MSCO5 3070, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

Email: sanchezg@unm.edu

Political Research Quarterly

64(4) 897 –909

© 2011 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912910379225

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