Antoine Yoshinaka is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the State University of New York, Buffalo. He is the author of several scholarly articles on elections, legislatures, and parties in the US context and around the world. He co-published Establishing the Rules of the Game: Election Laws in Democracies (2004), a thorough treatment of six critical dimensions of election laws in over sixty democracies. He was the recipient of the 2007-8 Congressional Research Award from the Dirksen Center and of the 2001 Malcolm Jewell Award from the Southern Political Science Association.

• Part I: 1. Legislative party switching in the United States: an introduction; 2. Party switching: a theoretical framework; Part II: 3. Why do members of Congress switch parties?; 4. Progressive ambition and party switching: testing the model on state legislators; Part III: 5. The electoral consequences of party switching among members of Congress; 6. The benefits of party switching: intrainstitutional advancement and the committee assignment process; Part IV: 7. Behind the scenes: the role of party leaders, rank-and-file members, and former party switchers; 8. A 'real-time' look into the decision to cross the aisle; 9. Conclusion.

'By focusing on ambition - both the desire for higher office and the goal of influencing policy deliberations, Crossing the Aisle offers a compelling analysis of party switching in the US Congress and state legislatures. Yoshinaka combines keen theoretic insights with thoughtful empirical work to produce a quantum advance on previous work, with deep consequences for our understanding of election outcomes and policy-making.' William Bianco, Indiana University, Bloomington

Antoine Yoshinaka is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the State University of New York, Buffalo. He is the author of several scholarly articles on elections, legislatures, and parties in the US context and around the world. He co-published Establishing the Rules of the Game: Election Laws in Democracies (2004), a thorough treatment of six critical dimensions of election laws in over sixty democracies. He was the recipient of the 2007-8 Congressional Research Award from the Dirksen Center and of the 2001 Malcolm Jewell Award from the Southern Political Science Association.

• Part I: 1. Legislative party switching in the United States: an introduction; 2. Party switching: a theoretical framework; Part II: 3. Why do members of Congress switch parties?; 4. Progressive ambition and party switching: testing the model on state legislators; Part III: 5. The electoral consequences of party switching among members of Congress; 6. The benefits of party switching: intrainstitutional advancement and the committee assignment process; Part IV: 7. Behind the scenes: the role of party leaders, rank-and-file members, and former party switchers; 8. A 'real-time' look into the decision to cross the aisle; 9. Conclusion.

'By focusing on ambition - both the desire for higher office and the goal of influencing policy deliberations, Crossing the Aisle offers a compelling analysis of party switching in the US Congress and state legislatures. Yoshinaka combines keen theoretic insights with thoughtful empirical work to produce a quantum advance on previous work, with deep consequences for our understanding of election outcomes and policy-making.' William Bianco, Indiana University, Bloomington

Antoine Yoshinaka is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the State University of New York, Buffalo. He is the author of several scholarly articles on elections, legislatures, and parties in the US context and around the world. He co-published Establishing the Rules of the Game: Election Laws in Democracies (2004), a thorough treatment of six critical dimensions of election laws in over sixty democracies. He was the recipient of the 2007-8 Congressional Research Award from the Dirksen Center and of the 2001 Malcolm Jewell Award from the Southern Political Science Association.

• Part I: 1. Legislative party switching in the United States: an introduction; 2. Party switching: a theoretical framework; Part II: 3. Why do members of Congress switch parties?; 4. Progressive ambition and party switching: testing the model on state legislators; Part III: 5. The electoral consequences of party switching among members of Congress; 6. The benefits of party switching: intrainstitutional advancement and the committee assignment process; Part IV: 7. Behind the scenes: the role of party leaders, rank-and-file members, and former party switchers; 8. A 'real-time' look into the decision to cross the aisle; 9. Conclusion.

'By focusing on ambition - both the desire for higher office and the goal of influencing policy deliberations, Crossing the Aisle offers a compelling analysis of party switching in the US Congress and state legislatures. Yoshinaka combines keen theoretic insights with thoughtful empirical work to produce a quantum advance on previous work, with deep consequences for our understanding of election outcomes and policy-making.' William Bianco, Indiana University, Bloomington