Assessing the Impact of Representatives with State Legislative Experience on the Ideological Polarization of the House of Representatives

This thesis project seeks to assess the impact that previous experience in state legislatures has on the extremism of the ideological makeup of the House of Representatives. The ideological polarization of the House of Representatives, beginning in the 1970s and persisting today, coincides with an increase in the percentage of former state legislators serving in the House, which rose dramatically from the 1970s to the 1990s. This project seeks to determine whether the increased presence of former state legislators in the House of Representatives could be considered a significant contributing factor towards the ideological polarization of the House.