Blog Posts – Legislative Politics and Elections Lab

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Students Present Research at 2022 MPSA Conference

Abby Nicholson ’23 (left) and Hannah Landel ’22 presented on the paper “The Buck Stops Where? Congressional Responses to the Withdrawal from Afghanistan” at the 2022 MPSA Conference in Chicago. The paper was authored by Logan Dancey, Ethan Brill-Cass ’23, Khari Derrick ’22, Breeze Floyd ’22, Hannah Landel ’22, and Abby Nicholson ’23.

During the 2021-22 academic year, the lab worked on writing and presenting a paper at the Midwest Political Science Association’s annual conference. We decided to focus on exploring congressional responses to the Afghanistan withdrawal given the increase in issue salience post-withdrawal. We collected data by coding hearing transcripts from the House and Senate Armed Services and Foreign Affairs/Relations committees both pre- and post-withdrawal. We then analyzed the data and found several trends. First, we found that member participation in the hearings increased across the board following the withdrawal, and the post-withdrawal hearings contained more references to both President Biden and former President Trump. Republicans in particular appear to have adopted a more aggressive questioning style and focused more on the Biden administration post-withdrawal. Beyond partisanship, we found evidence that combat veterans brought a unique perspective to the hearings, with such members more likely to reference the evacuation of Afghan allies in their remarks. The results speak to the mix of partisan and personal considerations that drive member behavior. After writing the paper, we presented our findings at the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) conference in Chicago in April. Taking the feedback we received at the conference into account, we hope to expand our analysis of partisan characteristics, particularly in terms of how veteran status might affect member behavior.

Senators’ Approach to Hearings on Afghanistan Changes Post-Withdrawal

By Ethan Brill-Cass ’23, Khari Derrick ’22, and Breeze Floyd ’22

Soon after the September 11 attacks in 2001, American troops arrived in Afghanistan for what would become a twenty-year engagement. Throughout that time, various related issues received congressional attention. In February 2020, the Trump administration established a comprehensive peace agreement with the Taliban. The United States agreed to reduce forces in Afghanistan, with a complete withdrawal of troops completed by May 1, 2021. However, it was not until August 2021, seven months after the Biden Administration took over the withdrawal process, that the situation received significant attention in the media and entered public discourse. In this post, we analyze hearing transcripts from the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee and U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings both before and after the heavily criticized August withdrawal.

The Future of Women in Afghanistan: Examining Senators’ Responses to The Withdrawal

By Hannah Landel ’22 and Abby Nicholson ’23

Introduction

After nearly two decades of military conflict in Afghanistan, the August 2021 withdrawal caused mixed feelings among American citizens and legislators alike. While many were relieved to see the end of the war, others feared for the future of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule. This concern is not new and has been a part of the discussion about the war since the beginning; in 2003, First Lady Laura Bush famously declared: “The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women.”^[1] Likewise, political scientist Sara Angevine concludes that female legislators have a particular interest in the conditions of women abroad. She finds that being a woman significantly increases the likelihood of sponsoring bills related to foreign policy affecting women; thus, American women in Congress “appear to be acting as global surrogates for women worldwide.”^[2] In order to understand how Angevine’s findings relate to congressional discussions of the withdrawal and to analyze which factors make a committee member more likely to mention girls and women in the context of the Afghanistan withdrawal, we examine the proportion of committee members that mention women and girls in their statements in various committee hearings by analyzing data collected from Senate Armed Services Committee hearings from May 20 and September 28, 2021, and from Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings from April 27 and September 14, 2021. We consider the following variables: sex, party, committee membership, and timing, meaning whether the statement was given during a hearing that took place pre- or post-withdrawal.

Partisan Differences Over Voting Laws Evident in Both Campaigns and Legislation Across Three State Senates

By Hannah Landel ’22 and Arianne Philemy ’21

Introduction

Throughout, leading up to, and even after the election, Donald Trump made strong, unfounded accusations of voter fraud and urged people to vote in person. On the other hand, Biden’s campaign encouraged people to vote early and mail in their ballots in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This post examines whether the differences observed at the presidential level apply to down ballot races. By examining a sample of State Senate candidates’ websites and Facebook ads for the 2020 elections in Minnesota, Georgia, and Connecticut, we find that Democrats were generally more likely to spend time and money focusing on and providing information on voting rights, how to vote, and voting by mail.

Bipartisan Attention and Partisan Divides in Education Policy Across Three State Senates

By Ethan Brill-Cass ’23, Breeze Floyd ’22, and Abby Nicholson ’23

Introduction

In the spring of 2020, students of all ages were sent home as COVID-19 cases quickly increased throughout America. Although education was already an issue that received frequent bipartisan attention, schools closing added yet another complex debate. Education remains an issue where consequential decisions are often made at the state and local level, which COVID-19 highlighted. With no federal level reopening plan, individual states determined their own course, making education a key topic during the 2020 election. This post explores how much attention education received from a sample of State Senate candidates in Connecticut, Georgia, and Minnesota and compares the frequency of mentions between the parties.

Coding State Senate Bills

During the Spring 2021 semester, members of the LPEL lab coded bills introduced in the Connecticut, Minnesota, and Georgia State Senates. Bills were downloaded from openstates.org on April 1, 2021. The coding therefore does not include bills introduced after this date.