Which Women Can Run? Gender, Partisanship, and Candidate Donor Networks

• Author: Michele L. Swers,Danielle M. Thomsen
• Published date: 01 June 2017
• Date: 01 June 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1065912917698044
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912917698044

Political Research Quarterly

2017, Vol. 70(2) 449 –463

© 2017 University of Utah

Reprints and permissions:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/1065912917698044

journals.sagepub.com/home/prq

Article

It is well known that women are underrepresented in the

U.S. Congress, constituting only 19 percent of House

members and 20 percent of Senators (Center for American

Women and Politics [CAWP] 2016). However, there is

also a distinct partisan skew in women’s representation as

the number of Democratic women in Congress far out-

paces the number of Republican women. The disparity

emerged in the 1992 “Year of the Woman” elections and

continues to grow. In the current 114th Congress, women

constitute 33 percent of the House Democratic caucus but

only 9 percent of the Republican caucus (CAWP 2016).

Recent scholarship rejects campaign finance as a cause of

women’s underrepresentation in Congress because

women raise as much money as men running in similar

races. However, we argue that the composition of the par-

ties’ electoral coalitions and the candidate-centered nature

of campaign fundraising make it easier for particular can-

didates to run.

This article provides the first in-depth examination of

the gender of campaign donors giving itemized individ-

ual donations. We use a unique dataset that includes pri-

mary and general election candidates for the U.S. House

of Representatives in 2010 and 2012 to examine the gen-

der composition of candidates’ donor networks. Analyzing

both successful and failed primary challenger, open seat,

and incumbent candidates provides a better picture of the

gender and partisan differences in the donor networks of

male and female candidates. Given the increasing polar-

ization of Congress and the research consensus that

donors are more extreme than average voters, we also pay

special attention to candidate ideology. Rather than infer-

ring the preferences of donors through the aggregate

activity of women’s political action committees (PACs),

we track the total amount of donations candidates receive

from male and female donors.

In line with previous research, we find that the ideo-

logical views of candidates are important to individual

donors. Moreover, donors exhibit a gender affinity effect

that is especially strong among Democrats, with female

donors favoring Democratic women and male donors

more likely to give to Democratic men. Furthermore,

Democratic female donors appear to value the election of

698044PRQXXX10.1177/1065912917698044Political Research QuarterlyThomsen and Swers

research-article2017

1Syracuse University, NY, USA

2Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Danielle M. Thomsen, Department of Political Science, Maxwell

School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, 100

Eggers Hall, Syracuse NY 13244, USA.

Email: dthomsen@maxwell.syr.edu

Which Women Can Run? Gender,

Partisanship, and Candidate Donor

Networks

Danielle M. Thomsen1 and Michele L. Swers2

Abstract

Recent scholarship rejects campaign finance as a cause of women’s underrepresentation in Congress because women

raise as much money as men running in similar races. We argue that campaign finance still impacts which women can

make a run for office because candidates have to build their own donor networks. Using a unique dataset that includes

primary and general election candidates for the U.S. House in 2010 and 2012, we examine the gender composition of

candidates’ donor networks. We find that candidates’ ideological views are very important to contributors. Donors,

particularly Democrats, also exhibit a gender affinity effect in which men give more to male candidates and women

favor female candidates. Furthermore, female Democratic donors seem to value the election of women, especially

liberal Democratic women, over other traditional predictors of giving, such as incumbency and competitiveness.

Meanwhile, Republican male and female donors do not focus on candidate gender, and female Republican donors

prefer conservative candidates. Thus, the existing partisan donor pools are friendlier to the emergence of liberal

female Democrats than Republican women.

Keywords

gender and politics, Congress, elections, campaign finance, donor networks, ideology