Strategic Contributing in Legislative Campaigns: The Case of Minnesota

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the sources of campaign contributions and state legislative candidates' incumbency status, party, and need for funds. The findings here support many of the same conclusions that studies of congressional campaign funding have reached. However, they also indicate that political parties and PACs differ from each other in their patterns of giving when the competitiveness of the state legislative race is taken into account. Parties, not PACs, appear to be the most strategic givers. Looking at contributions from the point of view of the candidate, the authors assess how dependent various categories of candidates were on various sources of funding. Their findings indicate the relative importance of party, PAC, or individual contributions. They find that public funds did not play a role in determining the outcome of close races.