The Legislative Party and Candidate Recruitment in the American States

Abstract

Parties in the legislature have become central to the recruitment of candidates, overshadowing the role traditionally played by the local and state parties. In this article, I analyze original data from a recent national mail survey of state legislative leaders in order to understand why some legislative parties are more involved in recruitment than others, testing several competing theories of party activities. I find that legislative leaders are perceived to be more active in recruitment than either the state or local party. Where there is more competition between the two parties, the parties in the legislature are more actively engaged in recruitment. These results suggest that legislative leaders can use candidate recruitment as a strategy to build or maintain a majority. Meanwhile, I do not find support for the view that the legislative party recruits candidates where the state and local parties are not recruiting candidates. I also find that recruitment is not limited to the most professionalized legislatures.