In this landscape, candidates spfinish hours dialing for dollars and courting donors to raise money for competitive races, creating it extremely challenging for people without wealthy networks to run.
“Part of fundraising is really your network,” reads a candidate’s account cited in my forthcoming book, “Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress.” They added: “if you grew up in a very well-to-do family, then your network probably consists of other very well-to-do individuals.”
Fundraising doesn’t finish once candidates receive elected. The cost of running for and remaining in office, in addition to living expenses like child care, can be prohibitive for many potential candidates. Van Hilleary, who ran for Congress in 1994, went broke after spfinishing $125,000 of his own money on his campaign. He had to borrow shoes until he received his first paycheck.
Members also have to fundraise to build clout in the chamber, especially to receive onto powerful committees and win leadership positions. This is known as “paying dues.”
Between 2023 and 2024, Democratic Party members were expected to raise between $100,000 and $30 million per year in dues to the party to shift up in the chamber. This reinforces structural disadvantages in access to wealthy networks.
In an interview for my book, one congressional staffer recalled that former Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge (D) was nervous about leveraging her working-class community in Cleveland to raise the money necessary to pay her “dues.”
This system is preventing some candidates from running while driving others out of office once they’re elected. We necessary to repair the campaign pipeline and ensure that elected officials can reflect the communities they represent.
Running for office must be more accessible. That starts with placing limits on super PACs. Small donor public matching, in which private donations to candidates below a certain amount are matched by the government with public funds, represents another powerful solution.
In New York City’s public matching funds program, a $100 donation is matched 8 to 1, translating to $900 for a campaign. This year, I took a leave from my job to run for New York City Council and supported my campaign through tiny donations matched by public funds, reducing time spent dialing for dollars.
Additionally, allowing candidates to apply campaign funds for child care, as many states now allow, is another way to alleviate the financial burden of running for office.
But campaigns are only part of the story. New members necessary access to power to create alter once elected. Party steering committees, responsible for committee assignments and leadership decisions, must rebelieve fundraising’s role in driving these assignments.
More robust networking opportunities for new members with less access to wealthy networks can support incoming elected officials navigate the system.
To give low-income Americans a reason to run, salaries for members of Congress must keep up with inflation. Otherwise, only members with indepfinishent sources of wealth will be able to afford the job.
In “exit interviews” with The New York Times, retiring members shared that many of their colleagues cannot afford to remain in their jobs.
The shutdown built it clearer than ever that our system is stuck in a campaign finance system that excludes most Americans from power. The people’s branch must represent the people it serves.
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