Author Meets Critics: Brendan Doherty’s "Fundraiser in Chief"

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Recent presidents have responded to the evolving rules of the campaign finance system and the competitive electoral landscape by devoting substantial amounts of their most valuable resource—their time—to fundraising. In his 2023 book Fundraiser in Chief, Brendan Doherty argues that presidential fundraising is an under-examined tool of modern presidential leadership and should be viewed as an instrument of presidential power akin to signing statements, executive orders, public speeches, and veto threats. Presidents raise campaign cash for themselves and for their fellow party members in the hope of electoral gains that will reshuffle the governing deck in their favor, but acting as fundraiser in chief sparks a host of controversies. Based on an original dataset of 2,190 presidential fundraisers spanning more than four decades of presidents from Carter to Trump, Fundraiser in Chief is the first book-length work to analyze presidential fundraising in a systematic and comprehensive manner.

Only a few shorts months out from the 2024 presidential election, this author-meets-critics panel will feature of lively discussion of Doherty’s book with Doherty and several campaign finance and presidency scholars.

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / Campaign Finance Research Group

Chair

• Bruce A. Larson Gettysburg College

Presenters

• Brendan J. Doherty U.S. Naval Academy

• Paul S. Herrnson University of Connecticut

• Karen Denice Sebold University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

• Robin A. Kolodny Temple University

• Andrew C. Rudalevige Bowdoin College

• Charles Hunt Boise State University