A Sacred Cow or Just a Lot of Bull? Party and PAC Money in State Legislative Elections

Abstract

This research analyzes the strategies and behaviors of political action committees (PACs) and political parties with regard to campaign contributions to state legislative candidates. Utilizing data from three states-New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, we find that PACs contribute disproportionately to incumbents, with little regard to the expected competitiveness of the election. We also find evidence that PACs are somewhat more likely to fund members of the majority party. In contrast, we find that political party organizations exhibit a different strategy, and that this strategy varies according to the minority/majority status of the legislative party. Specifically, we find minority parties develop an &dquo;additive&dquo; strategy, one aimed at increasing their numbers in the legislature. Majority parties are more likely to develop a &dquo;protectionist&dquo; strategy, one which favors incumbents, especially vulnerable incumbents.The purpose of this article is to analyze the strategies of political action committees (PACs) and political parties in making contributions to state legislative election campaigns. It is intended to advance our understanding of the financing of state legislative election campaigns through the collection and analysis of comparable data from recent legislative elections in three states:

Campaign Fundraising in State Supreme Court Elections*

“…From both the congressional and state legislative literature, we know that certain characteristics of the candidates, such as gender and race, either increase (or decrease) the amount of funds a candidate can raise (e.g., Wilhite and Thielemann, 1986; Thompson, Cassie, and Jewell, 1994; Herrick, 1995, 1996; Hogan and Thompson, 1998; Thompson, Moncrief, and Hamm, 1998). In addition to characteristics such as race and gender, incumbents are likely to be advantaged over other candidates (e.g., Jacobson, 1997; Bonneau, 2005a).…”

Campaign Contributions in Local Elections

“…Money from outside the constituency has been a larger revenue source for U.S. Senate races than in House contests, where the electorate is smaller (Alexander and Corrado 1995: 184-92;Makinson and Goldstein 1994: 34). At the local level, similar patterns might prevail among city council districts of varying size or between different offices in the same city Federal and state legislative leaders have tried both to influence the composition of their chamber and to build alliances by donating funds to other candidates, especially those in close races (Stonecash 1990;Thompson et al 1994;Clucas 1992;Dow 1994;Wayne 1997). In municipal elections, intercandidate giving has been found in Los Angeles (CCCF 1989: 33-54).…”

The Impact of Unified Party Government on Campaign Contributions

“…In every instance, the new majority party did better than the minority counterpart. This discovery runs contrary to much of the state politics literature, which reports only mixed evidence for the effect of majority status on campaign receipts (see, for example, Cassie and Thompson 1998;Ramsden 2002;and Thompson, Cassie, and Jewell 1994). 10 When one looks at changes-rather than at levels, as the previous literature did-one sees more clearly that donors value majority status.…”