Month/Year of Graduation

5-2019

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Dr. Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado

Abstract

There are more than 600 caucuses in Congress, and although most of these groups have little power on the Hill, there are a few that have serious influence and critical roles in policy-making. One such group is the Congressional Tri-Caucus which is comprised of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC). Currently, there are over 100 members in the House of Representatives that belong to one or more of these three groups. Each of the three caucuses have legislative priorities that reflect their corresponding racial/ethnic membership. Previous research has explored the behavioral overlap of Congressional representatives belonging to different racial groups, but with the recent election of bi-racial representatives in Congress, new research is needed to explore how these members navigate tri-caucus membership and the legislative priorities that each of the caucuses have. This study takes a group of 4 bi-racial/multi-ethnic members of Congress and examines their voting behavior concerning legislation critical to the caucuses corresponding to their racial identity. Results of this analysis suggest that bi-racial members of Congress vote in line with each of the caucuses corresponding to their racial identities-regardless of actual membership in the caucus.

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