Revisiting Black Incorporation and Local Political Participation

Abstract

Testing the proposition that electing black mayors has a positive effect on black political participation, scholars found that black incorporation historically lead to increased black political engagement. However, the research that examines whether length of mayoral tenure influences black political participation is limited. We test this proposition using the 1993—1994 National Black Politics Study. Our findings suggest long-term political incorporation decreases local black political participation while it increases voting for President. However, as the black population percentage of a city rises, local black political participation increases. These findings extend the research on the effect of political incorporation on participation by considering political and demographic context and by engaging in intraracial rather than interracial comparisons.