Replication Data for: Changing the Dialogue: Descriptive Candidacies & Position Taking in Campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives

Although the benefits of increasing descriptive diversity in Congress are well-explored, less attention has been paid to the positive impacts of increasing descriptive diversity in elections. Employing a comprehensive collection of campaign platform text from nearly 5,000 campaign websites, we find that Democratic male and white candidates are significantly more likely to take up women's and Black-associated issues when a candidate who possesses that identity runs in their same-party primary election. Extending our analysis to military veterans, we find that Republicans are more likely to discuss veterans' issues when there is a military veteran in their primary; conversely, Democrats are not any more likely to discuss these issues when they run against a veteran. Looking to candidate position taking in the general election, our findings suggest that simply the presence of candidates from underrepresented populations in congressional races is important to broadening substantive representation in the legislative arena.

尽管学界已充分探讨了美国国会中提升描述性多样性（descriptive diversity）的益处，但针对选举场景下提升该多样性所带来的积极影响，相关研究却相对缺乏关注。本研究依托近5000个竞选网站的竞选纲领文本数据集展开分析，结果显示：当某一具备对应身份的候选人参与同党党内初选时，民主党男性及白人候选人会显著更倾向于关注与女性、黑人相关的议题。将分析范畴拓展至退伍军人议题后，我们发现：若共和党初选党内出现退伍军人候选人，共和党候选人会更主动地探讨退伍军人相关议题；与之相反，当民主党候选人面对退伍军人竞争对手时，并不会显著提升此类议题的讨论频次。针对大选阶段候选人的立场表态展开分析后，本研究结果表明：国会选举中只要有来自代表性不足群体的候选人参与，便有助于拓展立法领域中的实质性代表性。