Abstract
Dominicans represent one of the largest and fastest growing Latino groups in the United States. Since 1990, the Dominican population in the United States has more than tripled, from 517,000 to nearly two million in 2019, becoming the country’s fifth-largest Latino group. As the Dominican population grows, the number of Dominican elected officials has also grown. However, although Dominicans have been elected to political office in New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, Dominicans have amassed very little political representation in South Florida, home to the third-largest Dominican population in the United States. In this article we examine the Dominican communities in Washington Heights/Inwood, New York City; Providence, Rhode Island; and Miami/Miami-Dade, Florida, to examine the factors that influence Dominican political incorporation in the United States. Our findings show that the interaction of population size, institutional context, and civic organizations plays a significant role in shaping Dominican political incorporation.
Resumen
Los dominicanos representan uno de los grupos de latinos más grandes y de mayor crecimiento en los Estados Unidos. Desde 1990, la población dominicana en los Estados Unidos se ha más que triplicado–de 517,000 a casi dos millones en 2019–convirtiéndola en el quinto mayor grupo latino del país. A medida que ha crecido la población dominicana, también ha aumentado el número de funcionarios electos dominicanos. Sin embargo, aunque se han elegido personas dominicanas para cargos políticos en los estados de New York, New Jersey y Rhode Island, dicha población ha acumulado muy poca representación política en el sur de la Florida, base de la tercera mayor población dominicana en los Estados Unidos. En este artículo examinamos las comunidades dominicanas en Washington Heights/Inwood de la ciudad de Nueva York; Providence, Rhode Island y Miami/Miami-Dade, Florida, para estudiar los factores que inciden en la incorporación política de los dominicanos en los Estados Unidos. Nuestros hallazgos muestran que la interacción de los elementos de tamaño poblacional, contexto institucional y organizaciones cívicas juega un papel significativo en la incorporación política dominicana.
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Source Dominican Landmarks Project, DSI CUNY. http://www.dominicanlandmarks.com/about.html
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Notes
At the time of this publication, NYC has yet to officially designate the neighborhood as “Little Dominican Republic,” however, this designation does appear on Google Maps (Saltonstall 2021).
We utilize Latino/a/x to acknowledge inclusivity, and from this point forward, we use Latina/o exclusively.
For example, William Lantigua became the first Latino state senator in Massachusetts and the first Latino mayor of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Pedro Mejia became the first Dominican American to serve in the New Jersey state legislature.
Our search results from Google Scholar: “immigrant political incorporation” AND “Dominican” AND “United States” OR “Dominican political incorporation” as well as “Dominican political incorporation” on its own. On JSTOR, there were sixty-five results using “immigrant political incorporation” AND “Dominican,” AND “United States,” zero results using “Dominican political incorporation,” and 202 using “political incorporation” AND “Dominican” AND “United States.”
As a consequence of the 1982 amendments to Sect. 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and Sect. 5, majority-minority districts have become the most-used method for securing minority representation. In recent years, however, the VRA has been weakened, if not gutted, by key Supreme Court cases, which negatively impact the creation of majority-minority districts. In June 2013, the Supreme Court effectively struck down Sect. 5 of the VRA (Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder). Similarly, in June 2021, the Court opened the door for state legislatures to enact restrictive voting laws—potentially leaving minorities without any legal remedies under Sect. 2 of the VRA—by upholding voting restrictions in Arizona (Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee).
We use Rumbaut’s (2004) age-based typology to define immigrant generations. First generation immigrants are born and socialized in their home country and immigrate as adults. 1.5 generation immigrants are foreign-born who immigrant between the ages of six and 12. The 1.75 generation indicates those who arrive from birth to 5 years old. 1.25 generation immigrants migrate at ages thirteen to seventeen and are thought to have experiences closer to the first generation. Finally, second generation immigrants are US-born.
Methodology can be found at http://www.dominicanlandmarks.com/about.html.
Angel Taveras interview, 2 December 2014.
Rudy Vizcaino interview, 3 June 2019.
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We are thankful to Mannela Iparraguirre for her research assistance. We also thank the interviewees for their time and depth of information, as well as the editor and external reviewers who provided outstanding guidance and comments.
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Matos, Y., Morel, D. Dominican political incorporation in the United States. Lat Stud 20, 67–93 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-021-00337-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-021-00337-0
Keywords
- Dominican political incorporation
- Dominican elected officials
- Political representation
- Population size
- Institutional context
- Civic organizations