Political professionalization, subnational style: Political insiders and the selection of candidates for regional premiership in Spain

ABSTRACT This article addresses the debate on the political professionalization backgrounds of executive candidates at the regional level. At this level, two opposing forces may intervene. On the one hand, as regional executive offices attain authority, more experienced politicians may become increasingly interested in seeking such positions. On the other, the concomitant presidentialization of regional elections by the major parties may render them attractive to well-known political outsiders. Using an original data set comprising the political backgrounds of Spanish regional executive candidates, our findings show that the greater the degree of authority held by regional governments, the higher their degree of political insiderness. However, the argument in favour of a greater presence of outsiders in the major parties does not seem to be supported.