Local Parties and Their Leaders

Chapter 2 situates local party organizations within the broader party organization and addresses how the efforts of these local elites’ may have consequences that go beyond the seemingly small-time nature of their operations. It examines who heads these local organizations and how they ended up in their positions. The survey results reported in this chapter paint a picture of local party chairs as individuals who are deeply involved with politics and whose background characteristics more closely track those of elected officials than those of the broader public. This pattern is, perhaps, unsurprising given that about one-third of the chairs who responded to the national survey have held or currently hold elected office. Party chairs tend to be older, whiter, wealthier, and more educated than the voters in their areas, which is to be expected given the demands of their—uncompensated—jobs.