Post-2016 Descriptive Representation – Does Government Work?

The government is an elected body that is charged with carrying out the wishes of its constituents. However, the degree to which the United States’ government includes adequate descriptive representation does not necessarily align with this mission. The lack of sufficient reflection of the nation’s demographic composition in government makes it difficult for official bodies to make effective policy. This November, however, we saw the tides begin to turn. Elected officials began to look much more like their constituencies. Many pundits argue that this is the result of an increased liberal turnout because of a general aversion to President Trump’s rhetoric and actions.

Virginia elected Justin Fairfax as its lieutenant governor, making him the second African American to win the position in the commonwealth. Only 20% of Virginians are African American only, but 50% of its capital’s residents are black. Chapter 11 cites race as a main political inequity, as the number of politicians who identify as a racial minority does not reflect the population proportion.

Fairfax’s win, a huge accomplishment in its own right, was accompanied by the successes of his running mates, most notably governor-elect Ralph Northam. Though not a member of a marginalized community, Northam’s win was significant because his opponent’s rhetoric so closely aligned with that of President Trump.

Virginia has also been making strides toward descriptive gender representation, as evidenced by the election of Danica Roem, a transgender woman, to a seat in the statehouse. This victory for the LGBTQ community was exacerbated by the fact that Roem’s opponent, Bob Marshall, spoke out against transgender rights during his campaign.

I believe that a significant contributor to Virginia’s nearly complete shift in the progressive direction is its constituents’ displeasure with the actions of the current president and his policies. Trump’s own rhetoric infamously includes racist comments as well as slights against the LGBTQ community, most notably his attempt to ban transgender soldiers from the United States military. With an average disapproval rating in the high 50s, it is reasonable to assume that President Trump’s constituents feel that their preferences are being left out of policy decisions. Therefore, voters are electing people they feel will advocate more effectively for those preferences, largely in the form of descriptive representation.

The recent trend in descriptive representation is not necessarily an indicator that government has not been working, but rather that it is doing its job by making candidate options available and allowing constituents to choose the candidate which most closely represents both their interests and, perhaps, their demographic. The election process is working effectively as voters retrospectively analyze the decisions of current officials and choose new candidates that better suit their preferences.

Kendall Crispin says:

November 16, 2017 at 12:44 pm

It is really encouraging that Virginia is becoming much more inclusive in politics.The Hill states that This Congress will be the most diverse in history, which is another step forward. There are 102 total people who are minorities, which can still be increased. It is so sad that this still isn’t the norm and that we need to celebrate the fact that it is happening. In class, we talked about how states can possibly redistrict on the basis of race and claim it is on the basis of party, because many African Americans and Latinos are known to lean more Democratically, but they tend to not do this so the white can stay in power. This is under the majority- minority districts.
Sort of like you said, when Ralph Northam was elected governor, people probably used the retrospective voting model on President Trump and realized that they didn’t like what he was doing, and did not want to elect anyone close to that. That is why midterm elections are very important in congress.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/306480-115th-congress-will-be-most-racially-diverse-in-history

Grant Golden says:

November 17, 2017 at 10:11 am

Our classmate Colby wrote his blog post about almost the same topic and I agree with everything you are saying. I think it is important for Virginia, and the rest of the United States, to continue to progress in terms of having members of minority groups being involved in the election process and giving them an opportunity to represent their respective states or districts. But as I said on Colby’s post, we need more voting participation for this progression to happen. We need these minorities to be informed and participate so these officials can get elected. With that being said, like I said on Colby’s post as well and like you mentioned in your post, just because there are no minority electives, does not mean that minority groups views and opinions are not being accounted for. There are still a large number of people in minorities that vote for the people in office today. But, I think it would definitely be beneficial for our country to have more minority representatives in our political systems.

Alyssa Holt says:

November 19, 2017 at 1:11 pm

I strongly agree with your points about recent elections and the shift towards supporting more liberal officials. What I think is most interesting is that this is a response to the 2016 elections. After Donald Trump’s win his low approval ratings of around 45% have clearly shown the public’s discontent. The recent elections you mentioned of more liberal, democratic candidates have reenforced the the public’s feelings towards a president that has shown clear favoritism towards certain demographics. These elections also highlight the surge of people running for positions to stand against Trump and candidates with similar platforms. I think this is a step in the right direction because not only are more people running with platforms designed to stand up for minorities but the public is supporting them. While there is still a ways to go in making congress represent the real population, having more officials run for office to oppose Trump has lead to more inclusive platforms and hopefully better representation.

Lauren Rothenberg says:

November 19, 2017 at 8:58 pm

Although it is encouraging to see some shifts in the political representation I do not believe that this reflects effective and sufficient strides towards a representative democracy. Having said this, I think it will be challenging to design and implement effective and sufficient efforts to achieve a representative democracy. The aggregate of similar minority groups can clearly constitute a majority, yet the way the congressional body is organized does not necessarily allow these minorities to be represented in the government. I definitely agree that this unrepresented group fuels the public’s discontent, which I think is evidenced through the abnormally high disapproval rate of Donald Trump, who is known to oppose and undermine many of these minority groups. I find it interesting that the discontent, which inarguably likely comes from many of these minority groups, is not a strong presence until there are elections with extremely polar candidates, such as with Donald Trump.