Campaign Contributions

Already the most reliably Democratic state in national politics, Massachusetts puts its money where its mouth is. The Commonwealth is a cash cow for the national Democratic Party, but it’s of only middling financial significance to the Republicans. As of June 3, Democratic and Republican national committees and congressional candidates raised $15 million in the Bay State for this year’s elections, and more than two-thirds of that amount went to Democrats. Overall, Massachusetts ranked 11th in the nation totaling donations to both parties–not a bad haul from the 13th most populous state. But only six states gave more to Democrats than the Bay State did, while 23 states ponied up more to the GOP. No other state has such a large discrepancy between the two rankings, and no other state gives a bigger share of its campaign money to the Democrats. (Indeed, only six other states, shown in italics, contributed more to the Democratic party and its candidates than to the Republicans.)

These rankings are in line with the most recent elections years for which complete date are available. In 1998, the last midterm election, Massachusetts gave about $22.5 million to federal parties and candidates, and the 70-30 ratio in favor of Democrats was almost exactly the same as it is so far this election cycle. In the presidential year of 2000, the Bay State’s contributions were only slightly more bipartisan, with the GOP picking up 35 percent of the $38 million in total contributions. Given this pattern, it’s not hard to see which party is more likely to pick Boston as its convention site in 2004.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FEDERAL CANDIDATES AND NATIONAL PARTIES
2002 election cycle, through June 3

Source: www.opensecrets.org, based on data released by the Federal Election Commission on June 3, 2002