Our most recent book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses campaign finance.
Congressional candidates wanting to raise money for their campaigns have long had to seek out donors far from their home states, even if they were hoping to get elected in California, New York, Florida and Texas.
Just as the nationalization of politics has trickled down to U.S. House and Senate races, the nationalization of donors has been on a steady increase since the turn of the century.
In the 2022 election cycle, House candidates who raised at least $200,000 got about 62% of their itemized donations from in-state contributors, according to a recent report from OpenSecrets. For Senate candidates, that figure was about 42%.
That's still a significant chunk of in-state money, but consider that, during the 2000 cycle, those figures were 79% and 62%, respectively. The trend line is clear: out-of-state donors account for an increasing portion of congressional candidates' fundraising.
