Chapter 11 Lawmakers & Legislatures

???? Main goal of a lawmaker?????

Main goal To keep their job Always thinking about staying in office Continual re-election

You must be….. Elect-able Be able to raise $$ Play political games Bring projects back to your home state

Constituents A person who lives in an electoral district and is represented by an elected official

connection Lawmakers serve a group of people House = home district Senate = state

qualifications “C” establishes Both “H” & “S” must live in the state from which they are elected “H” = 25 “S” = 30 “H” = citizen 7 years “S” = citizen 9 years

That’s all Do you think there should be more qualifications??

Informal qualifications Characteristics that people look for in elected officials What do you think? Come up with 5 at your table

traditionally White male middle to upper class

1960-1970’s Women and minority candidates challenged this tradition Late 1960’s = 200 women 2012 = 1840 women At both the state and national level

Minorities African Americans Latinos 2011 = 68 2016 = 19%

Other…. Informal qualifications… Education Occupation

Education Most members of Congress have a college degree and many have advanced degrees Majority = Law or Business

Occupation Lawyers CEO Scientists Teachers Doctors Farmers Writers Bankers Comedians Actors

Apportionment Equal Representation Senate = 100 seats (2 from each state) House = 435 seats (each seat represents one congressional district)

Number of Seats Fixed by Congress in 1911 Can be changed by Congress at any time

House Seats are apportioned OR Divided among the states according to each state’s population MI has 14 districts or seats

How to get that # Every 10 years the government takes a census OR A count of the nation’s population

And…….. That number is used to calculate how the House seats should be distributed among the states More population = more seats Less = less

But… Each state is guaranteed at least one seat ND SD WY MT AK

Page 198 After the 2010 census…… Which states gain a seat? Which states lost a seat? More than one????

Idea Equal representation “One person one vote” Each district should have the same amount of people

As of 2010 census House average 710,700 per district

Senate States are equal Each state gets 2 senators Each state has same weight even with different populations WY = (500,000 people) CA = (37 million people)

Job of Legislator 2 roles Delegate Trustee

Delegate Represent their district as the people wish Respond directly to what the people want

Trustee Represent their district with independent judgment Serve the needs of the district with larger interests. They are trusted to do the right thing

Many Combine the 2 roles Depends on the issue

Getting elected Once elected…..can stay as long as they keep getting re-elected No term limits in Congress (Yes….term limits in the State House)

Meaning 80% of incumbent senators have won re-election Why? Do they have an advantage? YES

Name recognition They are familiar with voters News Trusted by voters to be effective

Office resources Staff Travel allowances They can easily keep in touch with their home district or state

Campaign funds Incumbents tend to get more doantions than challengers 2012 $971 million vs $398 million

Bragging rights They can point to projects that they have accomplished in office Especially ones in their state Roads contracts

PORK Called PORK because the $$ for these projects comes from the federal “pork barrel” or treasury These officials “bring home the bacon”

Challenger Does not have this opportunity BUT….. No guarantee that the incumbent will win

Meaning If Congress hasn’t done a good job or has failed with major issues………votes may vote the incumbents out of office during the next election

Check Number of total Senate seats? Number of total House seats? How many senators from each state? How is the number of House Representitives determined?