The Economic Background of City Councilmembers

Is local politics shaped by groups and interests or party and ideology? Classic literature posits that local politics differs from national politics and centers on groups and interests rather than ideology, especially in settings with nonpartisan elections. A separate literature casts doubt on this, finding a connection between partisan voting, local ideology, and policy mimicking the federal level and without reference to groups and interests. In this paper, I use a large original dataset on the professional backgrounds of city councilors to provide a link between the evidence for both theories. I look at city council candidates from all 477 cities in California between 1996 and 2021, observing both candidates’ career histories through their ballot designations and party affiliations through their public voter records. I find that liberal cities have more career politicians, non-profit workers, and service based professionals running for and holding office, while conservative cities have more military and law enforcement workers and business types running for and holding office. Career politicians, non-profit workers, and service based professionals are more likely to be registered as Democrats and military and law enforcement workers and business types are more likely to be registered Republicans. In this case group membership and party affiliation are tightly coupled.