Messaging both sides: Party leadership support for conflicting positions in the US House of Representatives

Parties in the House expend substantial resources on messaging to achieve party goals. Part of that effort involves materials intended to shape individual member communications, including where members’ messages matter a great deal in ex-plaining floor votes. In the 1990s and 2000s, Republican leaders issued regular vote justifications for members, simultaneously advancing party messages and serving individual members. But in some cases, the leaders justified both positions on a vote. How did the leadership weigh the benefit of framing a party division against the cost of providing rhetorical support for anti-party votes? I find that the conservative GOP leadership was more likely to support defectors when they represented a more conservative group of members; they were also more likely to provide two messages as party cohesion on a vote declined. The case illustrates strategic decisions the leadership makes about messaging via individual member communications.