Party Messaging in the U.S. House of Representatives. (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hughes, Tyler; Koger, Gregory
• Is Part Of: Political research quarterly. Volume 75:Number 3(2022)
• Page Start: 829
• Page End: 845
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: congress -- political parties -- legislative speech -- agenda setting -- machine learning; Political science -- Periodicals; Science politique -- Périodiques; 320
• DOI: 10.1177/10659129211029712
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1065-9129

Abstract

Both Congressional parties compete to promote their own reputations while damaging the opposition party's brand. This behavior affects both policy-making agendas and the party members' communications with the media and constituents. While there has been ample study of partisan influence on legislative agenda-setting and roll call voting behavior, much less is known about the parties' efforts to shape the public debate. This paper analyzes two strategic decisions of parties: the timing of collective efforts to influence the public policy debate and the substantive content of these "party messaging" events. These dynamics are analyzed using a unique dataset of 50, 195 one-minute speeches delivered on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 2016. We find a pattern of strategic matching—both parties are more likely to engage in concurrent messaging efforts, often on the same issue.