Seed Donors and Their Influence within Congressional Committees

• In Event: Legislative Committees

Abstract

Whom to legislators prioritize when lawmaking? Legislators have sets of “seed” donors that had supported them when their electoral odds were lowest, during their first competitive primaries. Donors contribute to such candidates after vetting them on based on their commitment to the donor’s policy preferences and perceived competence in winning elections and passing laws. In fact, donors undergo a costly selection process to find candidates that would “champion” their policy preferences in Congress (Bawn et al 2023). But how well do these champions pass laws on behalf of their seed donors? This paper seeks to investigate whether legislators participate more actively in the legislative process when the issue at stake is related to their seed donors. I look at hearing transcripts from the 102nd Congress to the 115th Congress House committee meetings to see whether seed interests are represented in legislators’ committee activities. Specifically, using semi-supervised and unsupervised methods, I compare legislators’ championing of seed and non-seed, or “bandwagoning,” donors within committees. I also test whether seed group advocacy is influenced by legislators’ agenda setting powers, in the form of assuming committee or subcommittee chairs. I find that candidates advocate harder for seed interests than bandwagoning interests throughout their whole careers.

Author

• Ayoung Chun, University of California, Los Angeles