The costs of representation in state legislatures: Explaining variations in campaign spending

Objective. Campaign costs have grown rapidly in recent years. This analysis considers the amount of money candidates allocated in running for the stat e legislature. What factors associated with candidates, districts, and stat es are responsible for variations in campaign costs! Of particular concern is the impact of campaign finance regulations. Are laws aimed at restrictin g contributions effective at reducing overall levels of campaign spending a s is often assumed to be the case! Methods. This analysis examines spending by 3,253 state legislative candidates running in twenty-seven states in th e mid-1990s. Results. A number of factors are found to influence campaign s pending although these effects often vary by type of candidate. In particul ar, contribution limits and public funding reduce spending for incumbents w hile public funding leads to higher levels of challenger spending. Conclusi ons. Campaign finance laws affect spending levels, but candidate- and distr ict-level factors also have a large impact. Several of these findings have implications for understanding the role of money in elections and for antic ipating the effects of possible reform measures.