Local orientation in the U.S. House of Representatives

Abstract

What drives legislators to emphasize local issues in a nationalized setting? Although the representation literature has highlighted why legislators present themselves as district- or nationally oriented in constituent-facing activities, research remains limited on this behavior within Congress. We leverage congressional speech to provide evidence on how electoral competitiveness, district demographics, and legislator characteristics influence representation during the committee stage, a critical step in policymaking. Using U.S. House hearing transcripts from 1999 to 2018, we examine what types of legislators are more likely to mention their constituents and the local communities in their districts. Results reveal that women legislators use significantly more locally oriented statements compared to their male counterparts. This difference between male and female legislators, which is concentrated among Democrats, is similarly observed on the House floor. Overall, these results provide new evidence that the link between gender and policy representation persists even in settings when constituents are not the only intended audience.