The Small State Advantage: The Democratic Divide in the U.S. Senate.

This research attempts to illustrate the power of small states to influence legislation through the accumulation of seniority in the United States Senate. After reviewing the apportionment in the Senate, I argue that less competitive elections in lower population states result in comparatively less Senate turnover in these smaller states. This results in greater seniority in smaller state senators, which provides these senators with more influence and power than the populations of their state would warrant under a traditional democratic framework. Using an OLS regression analysis, I will illustrate that the population of a state is a significant predictor of turnover in the Senate and will discuss the implications of this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]