For citizens and scholars alike, the quality of electoral representation in a democracy is central to its performance and its legitimacy. However, what effective electoral representation requires in a well-functioning democracy remains contested. One area of debate is whether and how far descriptive representation – or the representation of citizens by legislators sharing their social identities and lived experiences – relates to substantive representation, or the representation of citizens’ preferences and interests in law-making. Another open question is how citizens prioritize between multiple overlapping social identities – e.g. social class, gender or ethnicity – if and when they demand improved descriptive representation.