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The Impact of Public Financing on Electoral Competition: Evidence from Arizona and Maine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Neil Malhotra
Neil Malhotra*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
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Abstract

Does complete public financing of campaigns enhance electoral competition? Arizona and Maine implemented similar clean elections programs for state-level races in 2000, providing an opportunity to examine the consequences of public financing. Employing two measures of competitiveness, I find that clean elections programs in both states significantly increased competition in districts where challengers accepted public funding. These findings suggest that public monies do not simply attract low-quality challengers and that access to campaign funds is an important determinant of competitiveness. As a result, while public financing programs are not panaceas for uncompetitive elections, such programs can enhance competition in races where money is accepted.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , Fall 2008 , pp. 263 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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