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Why do some states elect two Senators from different parties?: don’t blame it on strategic voters.

Donnelly, Chris (2015) Why do some states elect two Senators from different parties?: don’t blame it on strategic voters. USApp– American Politics and Policy Blog (31 Aug 2015). Website.

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Abstract

Among America’s elected branches, the United States Senate has the unique feature of having two members represent each state. Because the same set of voters choose each Senator, we might expect that the overwhelming majority of states would elect two Senators from the same party. Yet split-party Senate delegations—same-state Senate duos made up of one Democrat and one Republican—have been quite common throughout history. Why? Some scholars argue that split delegations occur because voters want to “balance” their state’s overall Senate representation. Chris Donnelly finds little support for such a theory, and suggests that those seeking to explain divided Senate delegations ought to move beyond the notion that voters are strategically choosing such an arrangement.

Item Type: Online resource (Website)
Official URL: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/
Additional Information: © 2015 The Authors, USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog, The London School of Economics and Political Science.
Divisions: LSE
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States)
J Political Science > JS Local government Municipal government
Date Deposited: 17 Sep 2015 11:46
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 19:48
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/63618

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