University of Massachusetts

This grant would support new research on campaign finance by Ray La Raja, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts and one of the nation’s leading campaign finance academics. Using data on the fifty states, Professor La Raja would evaluate whether and how campaign finance systems that privilege political parties (rather than candidates or interest groups) generate preferred political outcomes with respect to donor participation, electoral competition, political moderation, and representation. The results of this research can help to inform future approaches to campaign finance reform.

This grant to the University of Massachusetts will expedite the publication of the book, "Campaign Finance and Political Polarization: When Purists Prevail," by Ray LaRaja, for which the Madison Initiative provided research funding. It is important for the book to appear in the autumn of 2015, when the 2016 election season gets underway. Ray La Raja, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, is one of the nation’s leading campaign finance academics. Using data on the fifty states, Professor La Raja evaluated whether and how campaign finance systems that privilege political parties (rather than candidates or interest groups) generate preferred political outcomes with respect to donor participation, electoral competition, political moderation, and representation.