Do Brazil's political parties matter in elections? The article focuses on this problem by analyzing whether a mayor's election influences his party's electoral performance in the same city. A regression discontinuity model (RDM) was used to identify the causal effect of mayors on their party's electoral performance in elections to National and State Deputies. The findings suggest that a mayor's election (even by a difference of only 1%) should increase the votes for the same party in the elections to both National and State Deputy. This result is interpreted as evidence of intra-partisan linkage, whereby mayors act systematically to help elect National and State Deputies from their own parties.
political parties; elections; party organization; decentralization; Federalism
