Jeremy Alford & David Jacobs: Out-of-state donations bolster record-breaking fundraising

Louisiana congressional candidates have never before raised as much money as they are now, with $74 million reported so far this cycle.
Only 11 states have seen their candidates raise more, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit campaign finance watchdog. Louisiana is only 25th in population among states, and ranks at or near the bottom on most measures of personal wealth. 
For context, that tally is about what Louisiana will spend in state general fund dollars this fiscal year on its Child Care Assistance Program. It’s $16 million more than LSU spends each year on football, based on the Board of Regents’ most recent calculations, and it’s nearly $10 million more than the annual value of the state’s oyster harvest, according to the LSU AgCenter.
The fact that the two highest-ranking House members call Louisiana home explains how the state’s congressional fundraising punches above its population weight, and candidates putting up their own money to chase two open seats also helps fuel the increase. Perhaps most striking: Almost 80 percent of that cash is pouring in from outside the state.
Going back to at least 1990, most of the money that paid for Louisiana’s congressional races was raised from in-state donors. That was true for every cycle until 2020, when Majority Leader Steve Scalise flipped the script. 
Scalise was minority whip at the time, and he raised some $37 million that cycle, the vast majority from outside the state’s borders. The ambitious, up-and-coming congressman had established a national fundraising office and a leadership fund that allowed him to accept big checks that can be shared with other Republican candidates. 
Scalise also shelled out for lists of small-dollar donors. And, while he obviously never would have asked for this tradeoff, the 2017 shooting when he was seriously wounded gave him national name recognition.
Scalise has raised more than $270 million since joining leadership in 2014, including an average of $1.4 million per cycle from Louisianans since 2020, said consultant Lynnel Ruckert, Scalise’s former chief of staff. She said 2020 was when digital fundraising really started to take off nationwide. 
“He travels a lot, he’s on the national news a lot, and he has such a compelling story about overcoming adversity,” Ruckert said. “He’s been in leadership now for 12 years, so he raises a lot of money in Louisiana too, but it sure is nice having a speaker and majority leader from our small state of Louisiana with such a national following.”
This cycle, Speaker Mike Johnson has so far reported raising more than $21 million, while Scalise was close to $11 million, according to OpenSecrets. Candidates filed the last batch of Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports in July, with another round due later this month. 
On the Senate side, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy leaned on the benefits of incumbency to raise almost $7 million in his unsuccessful bid to hold on to his seat. Congresswoman Julia Letlow, who won the GOP nomination with the Trump endorsement in hand, was right on his heels with about $6.2 million. 
The highly partisan, nationalized political environment lends itself to out-of-state fundraising, which is facilitated by online national platforms like WinRed and VoteBlue. Retirees increasingly are driving those totals, giving some $23 million to Louisiana candidates this cycle, more than any other job category. 
Yet should Louisiana voters care if their representatives are largely backed by folks who can’t peel a crawfish or find Grand Isle on a map? 
“It could be a problem if large donors are giving in an attempt to influence a matter that might be contrary to the interests of the people of Louisiana,” said Robert Hogan, who chairs LSU’s political science department. 
But at the same time, many small donors contribute for partisan or ideological reasons, which is perhaps less problematic, since many small donations are probably preferable to large donations, Hogan said.
But the trend becomes more troubling if members of Congress tailor their actions to gain the financial support of more extreme donor groups, he added. 
Every election cycle tends to be more expensive than the one before, and this year’s midterms are no exception. Political ad spending could reach $11.6 billion this cycle, according to AdImpact. 
FEC reports covering activity from the beginning of last year through June 30 of this year show congressional candidates collected $2.8 billion and disbursed $2 billion, political parties received $1.4 billion and spent $1 billion, and political action committees raised $8.3 billion and spent $6.5 billion. 
At the same point during the last midterm cycle of 2021-2022, congressional candidates had collected $2.4 billion and disbursed $1.8 billion, political parties had received $1.4 billion and spent $1.1 billion, and PACs had raised $5.5 billion and spent $4.6 billion. 
Obviously, raising money allows candidates to pay for travel, buy ads and build influence by donating some of the haul to like-minded officeholders and contenders. 
Fundraising also is increasingly important because money is a widely used signal of viability and strength that shapes dropout decisions, subsequent donations and media attention, says Danielle Thomsen, a political science professor at the University of California, Irvine. Dropping $1 million of your own money in your campaign kitty can establish “serious candidate” bona fides, even while skeptics wonder if you’re actually going to spend it. 
About 30% of non-incumbents and 40% of non-incumbent general election winners contribute at least $10,000 of their own money early on to establish their initial campaign war chests, Thomsen’s research indicates. 
She also has found that the candidate who raises the most money wins 92% of the time, in both primary and general elections.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean raising the most money always causes a candidate to win, since donors tend to bet on whoever appears to be the strongest candidate.  
Sen. Blake Miguez made three separate loans of about $1 million each to his campaign for the open 6th Congressional District seat, though he has paid himself back for one of them and had about $2 million on hand in mid-July, his most recent FEC report shows. 
Senate Education Chair Rick Edmonds, the other high-profile officeholder running in the Republican-heavy 6th District, has loaned himself $155,000 and had about $315,000 on hand. 
In the crowded race for the Republican-leaning 5th District seat that Letlow is giving up, Rep. Michael Echols has loaned himself about $2.4 million and paid back $850,000.
When the July reports were filed, he was leading the field with about $1 million on hand. Board of Regents Chair Misti Cordell had loaned her campaign about $200,000 and was down to about $150,000 on hand. 
For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on X @ LaPoliticsNow.