Indian Gaming: The Declining Democratic Advantage in State Legislative Elections

Abstract

As policy making for Indian gaming and other tribal issues has shifted from the federal government to state politics and state legislatures over the past several decades, the role of American Indians in the electoral process in state legislative elections deserves greater scholarly attention. We examine changes in voting patterns among state legislative elections over a 40-year period for districts with and without casinos. In the past, Democrats held a large advantage in casino districts both in terms of the two-party vote share and in terms of incumbents running unopposed when seeking reelection. Since the 1990s, this traditional Democratic advantage has largely disappeared to a point where the two parties compete at rough parity in these districts. In several states, American Indians represent a sizeable and potentially influential voting bloc.