REPRESENTATION AND RESPONSIVENESS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Scholars of racial politics sometimes pay less attention to the local political arena than they do toother political contexts. That is a mistake. Local democracy presents an especially compelling venue for assessing and understanding core questions of race, representation and responsiveness in American politics. For one thing, local politics offers racial minorities a relatively accessiblepoint of entry into the political realm. One can regularly witness the delivery of a wide range of basic municipal services and one need not travel far to reach city hall or other local agencies. Local democracy also has the potential to alter the well-being of the minority population. In an era of policy devolution, the nation’s municipalities spend over a trillion dollars annually on diverse policies that significantly shape the lives of their residents. In addition, substantial variation across localities offers researchers the ability to gain key insights into questions that are difficult to answer at the national or state level. A large number of cities and greater diversity in terms of institutional structure, demographics, behavior, and outcomes at the local level opens the doorto robust empirical assessments of questions of representation and responsiveness. Finally and perhaps most importantly, racial minorities may be more able to affect political outcomes at the local level than at any other level of government. Racial segregation across municipal boundaries means that racial groups that are small minorities and largely insignificant at the national level can be major players within the cities in which they are concentrated. The national population is only 15 percent Latino and 13 percent African American but the average Latino lives in a city that is over 40 percent Hispanic and the average African American in a city that is 35 percent black (Hajnal 2009). Thus, where minorities live, they make up a substantial portion of the population and as such could have a real say in who wins or loses. For all of these reasons, studies of local democracy can inform the rest of the field and provide real insight into the functioning of race in American politics.

While the motivation for studying race at the local level is particularly pronounced, the core questions driving the study of racial politics are the same at any level. To understand race and its role in the local democracy urban scholars have addressed roughly the same five questions that have engaged researchers elsewhere. 1) Is race a relevant category? 2) How well represented are minorities at the individual level? 3) How well represented are minorities at the elite level? 4) How responsive is the political system to minority interests? 5) And finally, how can minority representation and influence be enhanced? In this essay I provide an overview of the racial politics literature in the field of local politics by assessing existing answers to these five core questions. In so doing, I highlight aspects of the literature that are incomplete and identify areas of research that are likely to be particularly fruitful. I conclude by noting some of the important recent trends in urban politics and by linking these recent developments to critical emerging questions that urban race scholars have yet to tackle in a complete or rigorous way.

Is Race a Relevant Category?

Many scholars of racial politics simply assume that race is an important demographic variable that shapes political preferences. Establishing the relevance of race as category in political decision making is, however, a vital prior question in any political arena. Are divisions across racial groups really substantial? Do racial groups actually form cohesive political blocs? Does race ultimately drive political preferences? Fortunately, a number of urban scholars have engaged these questions. Although some of the answers they have offered – especially in regards to the behavior of newer immigrant based pan-ethnic groups – can be viewed asfragmentary, there is little debate that pronounced racial divisions do exist at the local level.

Surveys of preferences on local spending and service delivery all generally find significant racial divisions with whites especially concerned about attracting development and businesses, reducing taxes, and expanding quality of life services(Alozie and McNamara 2008, Welch et al 2001, Bobo et al 2000, Deleon 1991, and Clark and Ferguson 1983, Lovrich 1974). By contrast, minority residents (especially American Africans) tend to be more concerned about redistribution and social services.

In terms of the vote, two patterns are evident. First, a range of studies of local elections has found that racial divisions are typically substantial and generally outweigh other demographic divides (DeLorenzo 1997, Adams 1994, Stein and Kohfeld 1991, McCrary 1990, Pinderhughes 1987, Browning et al 1984, Lieske and Hillard 1984). Second, these and other studies have demonstrated great variability in the size of racial divisions (Kaufmann 2004, Mollenkopf 2008, DeLeon and Naff 2004). Tensions and divisions between racial groups tend to be less pronounced when minority groups are smaller and when minority candidates run deracialized campaigns (Hajnal 2007, Perry 1991, Liu 2003). There are also signs that racial divisions are declining over time as whites gain experience with minority leadership in the local political arena (Hajnal 2007, Stein et al 2005). Racial divisions also vary markedly across groups. At different times, under different contexts, research has found significant divisions and active coalitions between almost any two racial and ethnic groups (Barreto 2007, Rocha 2007, Collet 2005, Meier et al 2004, Kim 2000, Saito 1998, Stowers and Vogel 1994, Jennings 1994, Sonenshein 1993, Hero 1989). Broader studies, however, suggest that in most elections, the black-white divide tends dwarf all other racial divides (Hajnal 2009). Hajnal (2009) using perhaps the most extensive sample of local elections found that the difference between black and white support for winning candidates averaged an alarming 50 percentage points. Blacks and Latinos and blacks and Asian Americans were typically the next most opposed voting blocs (a 43 point and 28 point divide respectively). By contrast, voting patterns in most contexts suggest that a coalition between Latino, Asian American, and white voters might be viable.

Studies of the vote can also inform us about the degree to which each racial and ethnic group works together as a united political community. This is an especially important question for Latinos and Asian Americans, two groups that are often seen as divided by national origin, diverse immigrant experiences, and divergent socioeconomic outcomes (Lien et al 2004, de la Garza 1992). Few studies directly address this question at the local level but theresearchthat does exist strongly suggest that America’s four largest racial and ethnic groups can be viewed as cohesive voting blocs (Barreto 2007, Collet 2005 but seeWarren et al 1997).[1] Hajnal (2009) finds that although there is considerable variation in cohesiveness across groups - with blacks being the most cohesive and Asian Americans being the least – even the least cohesive group votes together much more than chance would predict. The fact that 73 percent of Latinos and 67 percent of Asian Americans end up voting for their group’s favored candidate in the typical mayoral contest indicates that the issues and candidates that arise in local contests enable voters from both pan-ethnic groups to overcome at least some of their internal divisions.

Although urban scholars have successfully demonstrated that race is regularly and strongly reflected in the candidates we choose, they have been far less engaged and less successful in determining why race matters. Some early studies suggested that white aversion to minority candidates was largely driven by racial prejudice (Sears and Kinder 1971). But other research suggests that racial divisions can reflect ideological or partisan divides (Abrajano and Alvarez 2005, Bullock and Campbell 1984). And still others point to differences over public services and government performance (Stein et al 2005). Almost no research has been able to assess each of these different factors simultaneously and no urban study has been able to analyze the factors behind racial bloc voting in more than a handful of elections. Race clearly matters in the urban arena but it is unclear why it matters.

Access to the Vote

For any group, the first and often the most critical step in gaining incorporation into a democracy is access to the vote. While it is clear that this access was effectively denied to most of the minority population for much of the nation’s history, the recent record is more ambiguous (Klinkner and Smith 1999, Almageur 1994, Kim 1999). Studies of the urban vote closely mirror research on minority participation at other levels in that racial and ethnic minority participation exhibits strong gains over time as well as ongoing disparities. Today, in a typical local contest, white adults are almost twice as likely as Asian American or Latino adults to participate and marginally more likely than African American adults to vote (Hajnal 2009, Verba et al 1995, Leighley 2001).[2] Much of the gap in local participation is undoubtedly due to disparities in citizenship and socioeconomic status but few studies have analyzed urban residents to assess why minority participation is so low and whether racial barriers continue to play a role (but see Barreto et al 2006,Wong 2006, Garcia Bedolla 2005, Marschall 2001, Jones-Correa 1998).[3]

Descriptive Representation

The next step in the process of attaining full incorporationgenerally is winning office. As enshrined in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, one of the fundamental rights that minorities have in American democracy is an equal chance to elect representatives of their choice. The struggle of minorities to win office at the local level was largely unsuccessful for most of American history. With the exception of brief period during Reconstruction when African Americans attained substantial local representation throughout the South African American, Latino, and Asian American office holding was almost non-existent at the local level. As late as 1960, less than 300 blacks held elected local offices across the entire nation (Jaynes and Williams 1989). Latino and Asian American office holders were even rarer at that point. However, the last half century has seen enormous growth in minority representation in local democracy. Already fourteen of the 25 largest cities have had a black mayor, Latinos have garnered the mayoralty in Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, and Denver. And Asian Americans have done so in Honolulu and San Jose. More broadly, blacks now hold over 10,000 local offices, while Latino and Asian American office holders now number over 4000 and 1000 respectively at the local level (APALC 2007, JCPS 2003, NALEO 2009). No small fraction of the urban racial politics literature has been devoted to describing and explaining these successes (Colburn and Adler 2001, Rosales 2000, Perry 1996, Rich 1987, Keiser 1997, Hero 1989). Indeed, some of the most colorful and enthralling scholarship highlights these struggles for power (Kaufman 2004, Sonenshein 1993, Rivlin 1992, Grimshaw 1992).

Despite these gains, racial minorities remain grossly underrepresented at the local level. Although the national population is now roughly 13 percent African American, only 4.3 percent of city council positions are held by blacks. Latinos are even worse off, occupying 2.1 percent of city council positions while representing almost 15 percent of the nation’s population. Asian Americans hold a negligible fraction of all council positions (0.3 percent) despite making up 5 percent of the national population.[4] Mayors are also primarily white. Of all the nation’s mayors, only about 2 percent are black, less than 1 percent are Latino, and a tiny fraction are Asian American (APALC 2007, JCPS 2003, NALEO 2008). At least in terms of who wins office, white America continues to dominate the local political arena.

Barriers to Descriptive Representation

An even larger fraction of the urban racial politics literature has focused on identifying the barriers that are preventing more widespread minority success and outlining reforms that might help to reduce the ongoing underrepresentation of minorities in local democracy. In many cases, the primary barrier to minority electoral victory is clear. Accounts of early black efforts to obtain local electoral offices almost invariably focused on the reluctance of white voters to support black candidates. Extensive analysis of hundreds of different contests showed that in a typical bi-racial contest, black candidates could expect between 70 and 90 percent of all white voters to oppose them (Stein and Kohfeld 1991, Loewen 1990, McCrary 1990, Murray and Vedlitz 1978). These early black candidates could also expect massive white counter mobilization. In most contests in which black challengers won the mayoralty in a city for the first time, white turnout reached record proportions (Hajnal 2009). As already noted, it is not always clear why white voters resist minority empowerment, but in these early contests racial fears and campaigns that played on those fears appeared to play a major role. Campaign slogans like those in Atlanta (“Atlanta is too young to die”), Chicago (“Save Your City”) and Los Angeles ("Will your city be safe with this man?") were perhaps the starkest signs that white racial fears were rampant but studies by Rosales (2000), Sonenshein (1993), Rivlin (1992), and others have highlighted a wide array of evidence of white fear and racial anger.

Fortunately, research on more recent elections suggest that racial fears and racially motivated opposition to black empowerment may be declining. Local campaigns now rarely play on racial fears, turnout in these contests has plummeted over time, and white support for black challengers has risen dramatically – although still typically falls well below majority support (Hajnal 2009).Importantly, patterns of white resistancehavetypically been more muted in response to recent efforts by Latinos and Asian Americans to win local office (Abrajano and Alvarez 2005, Sonenshein and Pinkus 2002, Munoz and Henry 1997, Hero 1992, Saito 1998 but see Horton 1995). Asian American elected officials tend, in fact, to come primarily from districts where Asian Americans are not the majority (Uhlaner et al 1989, Lai 2000).

The second main barrier highlighted by the literature is institutional structure. Research has been able to link a range of local electoral institutions to diminished minority representation.

Among the institutions cited as detrimental to minority or lower-class interests, at-large elections get the most attention. There is obviously a compelling logic behind viewing at-large elections as a barrier. In an at-large system, if the white population can coordinate and vote for the same set of candidates, they can control every council seat in every locality where they comprise a majority of the active electorate. With few exceptions, extensive research demonstrates the harmful impact of at-large elections (Trounstine and Valdini 2008, Hajnal and Trounstine 2005, Grofman and Davidson 1994, Welch 1990, Engstrom and McDonald 1982 but see Bullock and MacManus 1990). Although the effects are not as consistent across context or across minority groups, urban research has also linked local minority representation to nonpartisan elections (Bridges 1997, Karnig and Welch 1980), term limits (Thompson and Moncrief 1993), council size (Alozie and Manganaro 1993, Alozie 1992, Bullock and MacManus 1987), and election timing (Hajnal 2009, Bullock and MacManus 1987). In general, these studies tend to find the most pronounced effects for black representation but it is clear that Hispanic representation is also limited by the current institutional structure of many American cities. Future research will, however, have to do more to see how these and other potentially damaging institutional barriers affect Asian American representation – a group that has largely been overlooked to date. Another important next step will be to see how institutional structure interacts with levels of segregation and the degree of locally polarized voting to impact minority representation.

A number of other less well documented barriers also play a role in limiting minority representation. Chief among these other factors is minority resources. Minorities fail to achieve electoral victory in the local political arena often simply because they do not have sufficient numbers in the population to sway outcomes, the financial wherewithal to run competitive campaigns, or adequate numbers of qualified and experienced candidates. The two factors that most explain black representation, according to Karnig and Welch (1980), are the size and the educational level of the black population. A similarly strong relationship between population size and black and Latino representation is also evident in other studies (O’Hare 1990, Browning et al 1984, Hajnal 2007). Whether a comparable relationship exists for Asian American representation is not clear. Finally, several recent studies have also highlighted the role that local party organizations can play in impeding minority success (Trounstine 2008, Wong 2006, Rogers 2004, Jones-Correa 1998, Grimshaw 1992).