Congress and Representation
I. Representation in the Congress
- Characteristics
- single member district
- plurality elections
- two-party system
- Democratic Theory: Who Should Be Represented?
- different political interests
- changes in public opinion
II. Reapportionment: Redistribution of U. S. Representatives among the
states, based upon changes in population.
- boundries adjusted every ten years following the census
(U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2)
-
Reapportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives,
2000
Population Change in California, 1840 to 2000
- Constitutional Standards: "one man, one vote" (i.e., districts
of equal population)
- Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S.(1962): state
legislative districts of equal population
- Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1
(1964): congressional districts of equal
population
- Constitutional Standards: Race may not be the predominant
factor: Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630(1993)
-
Methods of Reapportionment
- concentration: safe districts
- dispersion: competitive districts
-
Reapportionment in California, 2002
- African-American Districts in Southern States
(concentration)
-
Louisiana 4th Congressional District
-
Georgia 11th Congressional District
-
North Carolina 12th Congressional District
- Political Consequences
- Democratic coalition in the South: Rural Whites
and African- Americans
- Republicans: suburban whites
- Republican gains in the 1994 & 2002 congressional
election
- Safe seats tend to be more ideological; competitive
seats tend to be more moderate