High-Dollar Donors and Donor-Rich Neighborhoods

Representational Distortion in Financing a Municipal Election in Seattle

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6404037
AutoresJennifer Heerwig (0000-0001-9258-4186, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA), Brian J Mccabe (0000-0003-4669-1364)
Ano2019
Volume55
Fascículo4
Páginas1070-1099
Data de publicação2019-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoUrban Affairs Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1078-0874 • E-ISSN: 1552-8332
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1078087417728378
OpenAlexW2752854311
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas37

Candidates for municipal office collect millions of dollars to fund their campaigns. While previous research about local fundraising coalitions investigates the role of specific interest groups—for example, real estate professionals and developers—and donors outside the political jurisdiction, there has been little systematic investigation of individual donors classified by the size of their contribution or their geographic concentration within the city itself. In this article, we draw on administrative records of campaign contributions from the 2013 Seattle elections to answer two questions about the financing of municipal elections. First, drawing on research from federal elections, we ask whether candidates build fundraising coalitions comprised primarily of small-dollar donors or whether they rely heavily on high-dollar donors to fund their campaigns. In Seattle, we find that only one-fifth of donors in the mayoral election contributed at least $500, but their contributions account for 55% of the money raised in the election. Next, we ask how concentrated campaign contributors are within Seattle neighborhoods. Candidates collected nearly 25% of their funds from the wealthiest 10% of neighborhoods. By pointing to an outsized role for high-dollar donors and donors concentrated in affluent neighborhoods, this article identifies a critical dimension of representational distortion in municipal elections. In doing so, it opens a new window into the local campaign finance system—an aspect of our political process that has been largely overlooked in research on campaigns and elections

Ballot · Business · Campaign finance · Jurisdiction · Liberian dollar · Political science · Politics · Real estate · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Media and Politics · Finance