Money has become an increasingly important part of politics, and candidates spend a larger portion of their time on the campaign trail dialing for dollars. But, as Michael Pope reports, money does not always equal success.
True or false: A candidate who raises more money is more likely to win. You might assume that’s true, but a new analysis from the Virginia Public Access Project challenges that assumption. It looked at candidates who spent the most money in 20 open seat primaries and found that they were more likely to lose. Geoff Skelley at the University of Virginia Center for Politics says that’s true, but it’s a phenomenon limited to open seat primaries.
“This isn’t including any incumbents who re-nomination in a primary, and in a lot of these cases there wasn’t much of difference between how much the person who raised the most and the person who actually beat them.”
Quentin Kidd at Christopher Newport University says many candidates who spend large amounts of money and end up losing are trying to overcome some liability.
“Not being very well known, not having a long track record of politics in an area where they are running, being in an area where they’re running, being in an area where they are severely in the minority in terms of their party affiliation.”
Candidates aren’t throwing in the towel on fundraising. In fact, the most recent round of campaign finance documents unleashed a torrent of press releases from candidates bragging that they have raised more money than their opponents.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
