Open AccessInstitutional Variation and Political Career Patterns: A Look at the Influence of Chamber Size in State Legislatures
Author(s) -
Jonathan Winburn
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american review of politics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2374-779X
pISSN - 2374-7781
DOI - 10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2008.29.0.49-63
Subject(s) - legislature , variation (astronomy) , state (computer science) , politics , political science , order (exchange) , public administration , law , economics , physics , finance , algorithm , astrophysics , computer science
State legislators routinely run for the state Senate after having served in the state House; however, this rarely occurs in the other order. Do members simply look to move up based on the conventional view of the political ambition ladder? Alternatively, do institutional reasons exist that make the Senate the preferred chamber? I examine the differences between the state legislative chambers and discuss institutional reasons why members may prefer the Senate to the House. Overall, I find chamber size is an important intra-institutional variable in explaining this variation along with the professionalism of the legislatures and term limits.