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Explaining Black Descriptive Representation in State Legislatures

Diversity in representative bodies is important to political scientists, with many focusing on the presence of African Americans in legislatures. This chapter examines black seat share and the black representation ratio in state legislatures, from 1992 to 2010. The findings show that while the relationship between black population and the black seat share is linear, the black population in a state has a non-linear relationship with the black representation ratio. This provides partial support for the expectation that because of racial threat, the relationship between black population and black descriptive representation is non-linear. Moreover, there is more to explaining black descriptive representation than the presence of African Americans. Legislative professionalism, the partisan attachments of voters, and the Latino population in the state are other important predictors of black descriptive representation in state legislatures.