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Though Twitter plays an increasingly important role in politics, few studies explore whether representatives respond to calls for activism on the social media platform. This study examines the impact of racial representation and the intersection of race and gender on Twitter behavior involving black male centered and black female centered political movements. By investigating the use of four hashtags (#blacklivesmatter, #mybrotherskeeper, #bringbackourgirls, and #sayhername), we find black U.S. House Representatives are significantly more likely to vocalize their support for black-centered social movements than comparable white representatives. Moreover, we find black female and black male representatives are equally likely to speak on behalf of black male centered movements, but black female representatives are more likely to support black female centered movements than all other racial and gender groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we assess whether Blacks and/or Latinos are more likely to identify with political parties that nominate a U.S. House candidate who shares their race/ethnicity using the 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES). Our results indicate that Blacks are more likely to identify with both the Democratic and Republican Party when they nominate successful Black candidates for the House of Representatives. To assess the temporal order of the relationship, we examine the differences in Black Democratic partisanship before and after Obama’s election to the White House and changes in Republican partisanship among Blacks in districts before and after the nomination of a successful Black Republican candidate. In combination, we find that both political parties can make gains in the Black community through the nomination of co-racial candidates. While descriptive candidates consistently influence Black partisanship, we find that Latino partisanship is not significantly affected by the presence of co-ethnic candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study aims to understand public reactions to statements about racial discrimination made by elected officials of color on Twitter. We argue that statements about race made by elected officials of color will be overlooked in most political contexts. However, during events when race is made a salient issue, the public will look to elected officials of the afflicted group for guidance and, through this, the public will be more likely to interact with these leaders on Twitter. In this way, periods of crises create a window of opportunity when statements against racism made by elected officials of color receive greater public attention. To assess this hypothesis, we use the case study of Asian American members of Congress and their discussion of anti-Asian racism on Twitter. We examine the pattern of Twitter interactions to their posts in 2021. We find that Asian American members of Congress receive more social media attention (likes and retweets) relative to other members of Congress when condemning anti-Asian violence, but only in the immediate wake of the March 2021 mass shooting of Asian Americans in Atlanta, Georgia. This study offers important new insight into when elected officials of color can draw public attention to the communities that they descriptively represent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]