McCarty, NolanUrbati, Nicholas2025-08-052025-08-052025-04-03https://theses-dissertations.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp01ms35td08nThis thesis investigates whether local legislative bodies—specifically city and county councils—exhibit patterns of partisanship and political polarization, despite institutional structures designed to suppress them. Using Optimal Classification (OC), a spatial modeling technique applied to over 550,000 roll-call votes across 55 councils, I analyze the extent to which party affiliation shapes legislative behavior in both partisan and formally nonpartisan settings. The findings reveal that partisanship is a notable organizing force in local governance: parties form cohesive coalitions, and ideological polarization is present across council types and jurisdictions. These results challenge long-standing assumptions that local politics operates independently from national partisan trends and contribute to a growing body of literature on the nationalization of American political life. Ultimately, this thesis highlights the need for renewed attention to local government as a meaningful site of ideological conflict and democratic accountability.en-USPrinceton University Senior Theses