What happens if you ask your legislator about police violence? Experimental evidence on political elites' responsiveness before the US 2020 Elections

We examine the effects of race (black vs. white) and political activism (for vs. against Black Lives Matter) on the legislators' responsiveness to email inquiries about the prevalence of police violence fatalities in their voting districts. We present three main findings. First, legislators do not discriminate against black voters in this experiment. Second, they are more responsive if the prevalence of fatalities supports the incumbent's partisan stance on BLM. Third, the more salient the topic “Blacks” in the district the more alert its incumbent is to the email. We conclude that rational choice beats racial discrimination in this experiment.