Walking in their shoes: an examination of congressional representation from 1989-2018

In this dissertation, I seek to better understand how members of Congress represent their constituents. I use a combination of unique survey data to examine how voters would prefer their members of Congress to allocate their limited resources by utilizing a within the district or in Washington D.C. comparison. Next, I examine how members of Congress allocate their resources through examination of representational, legislative, and electoral resources to determine the representational style of each member of Congress. Lastly, I examine the geographic overlap that exists between state legislative and congressional districts to determine if an increase in overlap increases the probability of candidate emergence.