Experience, institutions, and candidate emergence: The political career returns to state legislative service

More than half of the current members of the U.S. Congress served in their state legislature prior to holding federal office. We quantify the relationship between individuals’ state legislative service and career progression to Congress over the period of 1967 to 2018. Serving in the state legislature more than doubles an individual’s probability of eventually contesting a Congressional seat relative to a similar candidate who lost in a comparable election; it also doubles the individual politician’s probability of eventually winning a Congressional seat. State legislatures thus create national politicians out of otherwise marginal political entrants. We then show that the effect of state legislative service on career progression is larger in more professionalized legislatures, highlighting the role of institutions in facilitating political career progression. Our results hold important implications for representation and accountability, and confirm that prevailing institutions can affect political selection via career progression.

Keywords: Political selection; Career progression; Local politics; American politics.