Elbridge Gerry's Salamander: The Electoral Consequences of the Reapportionment Revolution

by Gary W. Cox , Jonathan N. Katz

• ISBN13: 9780521001540
• ISBN10: 0521001544
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-04
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Supreme Court's reapportionment decisions, beginning with Baker v. Carr in 1962, had far more than jurisprudential consequences. They sparked a massive wave of extraordinary redistricting in the mid-1960s. Both state legislative and congressional districts were redrawn more comprehensively - by far - than at any previous time in America's history. Moreover, they changed what would happen at law should a state government fail to enact a new districting plan when one was legally required. We provide the first detailed analysis of how judicial partisanship affected redistricting outcomes in the 1960s, arguing that the reapportionment revolution led indirectly to three fundamental changes in the nature of congressional elections: the abrupt eradication of a 6% pro-Republican bias in the translation of congressional votes into seats outside the south; the abrupt increase in the apparent advantage of incumbents; and the abrupt alteration of the two parties' success in congressional recruitment and elections.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	ix
Preface	xi
Part I: Introduction
Introduction	3	(9)
The Reapportionment Revolution	12	(19)
Part II: Democrats and Republicans
A Model of Congressional Redistricting in the United States	31	(20)
The Case of the Disappearing Bias	51	(15)
The Role of the Courts in the 1960s Redistricting Process	66	(21)
Bias, Responsiveness, and the Courts	87	(19)
Redistricting's Differing Impact on Democratic and Republican Incumbents	106	(21)
Part III: Incumbents and Challengers
The Growth of the Incumbency Advantage	127	(13)
Candidate Entry Decisions and the Incumbency Advantage	140	(22)
Redistricting and Electoral Coordination	162	(10)
Redistricting, the Probability of Securing a Majority, and Entry	172	(22)
Reassessing the Incumbency Advantage	194	(15)
Part IV: Conclusion
Final Thoughts	209	(10)
References	219	(10)
Author Index	229	(2)
Subject Index	231