State Parties in the 2000 Senate Elections^*

Abstract

Objective. This article examines state party activity in support of U.S. Senate candidates during the 2000 election. The literature on the service role of parties suggests that national parties will be active in support of candidates, while state parties will be inclined to provide mobilization services. However, state parties are also in a good position to provide campaign contributions and technical services usually supplied by national party organizations. Methods. Focusing on the 2000 elections, I use campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission as well as original data derived from a survey of the state parties to investigate the relationship between state parties and U.S. Senate candidates. Results. The results indicate not only that state parties were remarkably active in support of U.S. Senate candidates, but also that Republican state parties appeared to better target their support to more deserving candidates than did Democratic state parties. Closer scrutiny, however, reveals that the Democrats, by using state party organizations as the conduit of coordinated expenditures, were more successful in providing resources to candidates who would win. Conclusions. Although much of the activity of state party organizations is explained by money transfers from national party organizations, it is the transfer of hard money that accounts for state party activity in U.S. Senate campaigns. This brings into question the impact of recent campaign finance reforms on the relationship between state parties and U.S. Senate candidates.

Do Party Rules Matter? An Examination of State Party Bylaws and Congressional Nominations

“…The resurgence of party organizations has been driven by increased resources and professionalization among party staff (Kayden & Mahe Jr. 1985), and the most powerful party organizations are described as long lasting, autonomous, internally hierarchical with specialization among staff, interested in bringing about the nominations of candidates for a wide range of public offices, reliant on material incentives in carrying out their work, and resource rich (Cotter et al, 1984; Mayhew, 1974). Overall, state political parties, and their local subsidiaries, are important in modern elections because among other things, they recruit candidates and provide both technical services and financial support (Frendreis, et al, 1990; Brox 2004; Bekafigo, et al, 2013; Crowder-Meyer 2013; Preece & Stoddard 2015; Doherty et al 2022). 3…”

Political Parties, American Campaigns, and Effects on Outcomes

“…The role of state parties in financing state legislative campaigns varies greatly by state (Gierzynski and Breaux, 1998). State parties do play an important (if not overwhelming) role in financing some federal campaigns; in the case of campaigns for the US Senate in 2000, the Democratic Party even entrusted the responsibility for making coordinated expenditures to the state parties (Brox, 2004). State legislative committees, similar to the Hill committees, are also emerging as a force in campaign finance (Gierzynski and Breaux, 1998).…”