Learning in Committee? How Racial Diversity Shapes Speech, Evidence Use, and Substantive Representation in Congress

Abstract

Research on descriptive representation has primarily examined whether and how descriptive representatives themselves advance group interests. In the context of race, this work shows that nonwhite lawmakers advance nonwhite interests, but less is known about whether nonwhite representation also shapes white lawmakers' behavior. I argue that repeated contact with nonwhite lawmakers in racially diverse committees may shape how white Democrats engage race-related issues, making them more likely to support race-related hearing statements with evidence. To test this expectation, I combine large-scale text classification with a detailed content analysis of more than 11,000 race-related committee hearing statements and 87,000 full bill texts from the 105th–117th Congresses. Using a within-legislator design, I find that white Democrats serving on racially diverse committees are more likely to cite evidence when discussing race and to cite the same sources as their nonwhite colleagues. I also show that race-based expertise is associated with substantive representation: legislators who more frequently cite evidence when discussing race are more effective at advancing race-related legislation. Together, these findings suggest that descriptive representation may foster substantive representation, in part, by shaping how white Democrats engage race-related issues in racially diverse legislative committees.