The Determinants of Campaign Spending in Mayoral Elections

• Author: Thomas M. Holbrook,Aaron C. Weinschenk
• Date: 01 March 2014
• DOI: 10.1177/0160323X13514756
• Published date: 01 March 2014
• Subject Matter: General Interests

General Interest

The Determinants of Campaign

Spending in Mayoral Elections

Aaron C. Weinschenk

1

and Thomas M. Holbrook

2

Abstract

We examine why levels of campaign spending vary across U.S. mayoral elections. Although there

has been debate about the extent to which spending is damaging or beneficial, few analyses have

sought to understand the factors that inhibit or promote campaign spending. We focus on the

impact of city-level attributes, political institutions, and contest-specific factors and find that a

number of the variables we consider have important effects on campaign spending, including local

government form, term length, scope of local government, an experienced candidate pool, and

open seat and runoff elections. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for local

policy makers.

Keywords

mayoral elections, campaigns, local elections, local campaign spending

Jesse Unruh, former speaker of the California

State Assembly, famously described money as

the ‘‘mother’s milk of politics.’’ And while it

has long been known that money matters in

politics, the role of campaign spending is

something that consistently garners attention

and elicits debate. Within the context of

national politics, there are frequently debates

about the role of money in political cam-

paigns. The same arguments that characterize

debates over campaign spending in national

politics extend to local politics as well, despite

the fact that local campaign activities, and

local politics more generally, are often over-

looked. Those who think that money plays too

large of a role in elections often make the

argument that money buys influence and may

therefore lead to biases in representation and

public policy (see Krebs 2005 for an analysis

of interest group campaign contributions to

mayoral candidates; see also Roscoe and Jenkins

2005; Poole and Romer 1985; Davis 1988;

Box-Steffensmeier and Grant 1999; Dow and

Endersby 1994).

Those people who support limiting the role

of money in elections have also pointed out that

the large sums of money often needed to con-

duct competitive campaigns make it exceed-

ingly difficult for qualified candidates to run

for elective office. Recently, such arguments

have captured the attention of local policy mak-

ers across the United States. For instance, in a

2012 article in The Seattle Times, Seattle City

1

Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin,

Green Bay, WI, USA

2

Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin,

Milwaukee, WI, USA

Corresponding Author:

Aaron C. Weinschenk, Department of Political Science,

University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive,

Green Bay, WI 54311, USA.

Email: weinscha@uwgb.edu

State and Local GovernmentReview

2014, Vol. 46(1) 13-27

ªThe Author(s) 2013

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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X13514756

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