Breaking It Down is GPPR’s new series focused on explaining emerging and endorsed solutions for various policy problems. In this second installment, I explain the concept of reflective representation and its credibility as a tool for better governance around the world.
Roughly 50% of American voters had unfavorable views of their Congressional representatives, according to The Congress Management Foundation survey in 2019. As my first piece in this series discussed, our current electoral system has a lot to do with this dissatisfaction: our winner-takes-all system does not demand a candidate to win at least 50% of the votes to win their seat. Achieving our electoral future means implementing ranked choice voting, which serves as a legitimate solution to reducing American disillusionment on politics and government. But, I argue that a packaged solution is needed to fully address all aspects of the issue. This week, we look at the merits of reflective representation and why it is a stronger ideal than many may believe.
Mapping the Landscape of Reflective Representation
How do we define reflective representation? Academia does not traditionally use this term, instead electing to split it into two concepts: descriptive and substantive representation. Descriptive representation sounds like what it means: shared attributes that would imply a connection between the voter and candidate or elected official. These attributes may be gender, race, ethnicity, disability, class, veteran status, and more. Substantive representation is where the candidate or elected official actually advocates on issues related to these shared identities.
Electoral reform advocates often report on descriptive representation, because it is hard to numerically measure substantive representation. But, they advocate for both- electoral reform groups argue for descriptive representation as a linkage to achieving substantive representation. While “bringing everyone to the table” does not always guarantee improved representation, it often does achieve this in some capacity, and is a popular corporate leadership strategy as a result.
The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) reported that “the importance of having women serving in Congress is still not fully appreciated,” and this heavily implies that reflective representation is not viewed as a credible strategy to improve governance. Though this may be true, reflective representation has received international attention from electoral reform advocates in the last few years.
Every month, the Inter-Parliamentary Union releases global rankings on the percentage of women in national parliaments, which has pressurized both authoritarian and democratic governments to increase female inclusion in elected office and Cabinet positions. Research hubs like RepresentWomen produce significant amounts of research on gender parity in politics, such as their Gender Parity Index for the United States. These numbers have outlined the relevance of proper representation in Congress, leading to legislation like the Fair Representation Act.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also spurred public conversation on how represented people feel by their elected representatives. For instance, the Victory Fund reported that LGBTQIA+ individuals were only 2.1% of Congress representatives, despite conservative estimates showing that they represent 5.6% of the American population. Yet, their Queering Congress 2022 report finds that there has been a 16% increase in LGBTQIA+ Congressional candidates since 2020 and that 41% identify as people of color.
Oftentimes, it takes displays of public support and a clear avenue to encourage marginalized groups to run for office. This is because there can be lots of barriers to prevent them from running for office, such as: safety threats, lower female and diverse candidate recruitment rates from party leadership, physically inaccessible and costly campaigning environments, and the list goes on. It is momentous when candidate numbers from disadvantaged groups increase, because it can create a positive feedback loop that continues to encourage more community members to run.
In 2017, when I witnessed trans individuals win elected office across the country, I saw a door open for me and make this run a reality. I was able to combine my qualifications with my passion for public service and a new confidence knowing that this has happened and it can happen for me.
Rep. Brianna Titone, Colorado’s First Transgender Legislator
Reflective Representation and Governance: Is There a Link?
Having established the foundations, the question at hand can be addressed: is reflective representation an effective strategy to improve American governance? Some may claim that my previous involvement with electoral reform biases my response, but I firmly believe that there is objective evidence to support the merits of reflective representation. Let’s take a look.
Skeptics of reflective representation often make the mistake of only considering it from a national level, where there is naturally a greater imagined distance between a single constituent and the elected official. But what about the local level- what about our school boards, community safety boards, and even mayors?
In my published report on Disabled women in politics, I highlighted Nicki Vander Meulen, who is the first openly autistic school board member in the United States. She won her re-election campaign with over 60% support, and she also made history by being the first school board member in her district to visit every school in the district during her first term. Nicki Vander Meulen embodies the definition I put forth for reflective representation. Descriptively, she made history as an autistic elected official, and has paved a path for others to follow her footsteps. Substantively, she also generally made history as a school board member and has substantively advocated for her community by improving educational experiences for Disabled students.
Nicki Vander Meulen embodies the definition I put forth for reflective representation. Descriptively, she made history as an autistic elected official, and has paved a path for others to follow her footsteps. Substantively, she also generally made history as a school board member and has substantively advocated for her community by improving educational experiences for Disabled students.
California is a great state to look to when thinking of reflective representation. Assembly Representative Jose Medina has often championed issues related to higher education equity for marginalized communities, and many marginalized communities have felt supported by his speeches and accompanying legislation. In February, Governor Newsom nominated the first Latina woman to the California Supreme Court, which is major considering that 39% of California residents are Latino.
Even at the national level, we have seen similar results. Netflix’s popular documentary, Breaking Down the House, was a clear embodiment of the power and likability of reflective representation. Say whatever you may on their politics, these women stood out because they went against the grain in how they interacted with constituents. They closed the gaping hole that often seems to exist between a federal representative and their constituents by being the first to effectively reach out to both their own communities and constituents at large. AOC produced multi-language materials in recognition of the large immigrant populations in her constituency. Cori Bush, who I had the privilege of interning for, intimately understood socioeconomic issues as someone who experienced poverty, homelessness, and safety net programs firsthand.
There is power in reflective representation, and though it may not guarantee a 100% transition from descriptive to substantive representation, it is wrong to fault the strategy for this. No strategy offers 100% success, and reflective representation is likely to produce ample benefits without causing any harm.
Conclusion
Combining my main arguments from the previous piece on RCV and this piece, it is evident that electoral design and limited diversity of candidate pools have contributed to disillusionment and a sense of distance between representatives and constituents. RCV can greatly incentivize diverse candidates to run for office, and reflective representation ensures more inclusive and effective policymaking that creates a positive feedback loop to bolster both descriptive and substantive representation.
Especially in recent years, it has been empowering to see more first-generation, LGBTQIA+, Disabled, BIPOC, low-income, women, and other more diverse groups increase their number of candidates for office in each election cycle. As the 2022 midterm elections approach, many electoral advocates will be on the lookout for changes in descriptive representation, and the media will likely be as well. It will be enlightening to see how much voters embrace reflective representation as they cast their ballots this midterm season.
Alisha Saxena (she/her) is the Editor in Chief of the Georgetown Public Policy Review and a Master of Public Policy Candidate at the McCourt School of Public Policy. She currently interns with the Economic Innovation Group and the AARP, and previously worked as a Research Associate for RepresentWomen. Alisha is an avid reader, having read over 250 books in 2022.
