Time Is Money: The Effect of Legislative Professionalization on Time Fundraising

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Abstract

Despite the promise to increase the diversity of state legislatures, through better pay, increased support staff, and longer legislative sessions, professionalization has failed to increase member diversity. These added benefits to legislative service create more electoral competition, increasing the number of candidates and raising campaign costs, crowding out candidates from underrepresented backgrounds. Since candidates for seats in professionalized legislatures face more competition and a greater need for campaign funds, it can be expected that they will need to dedicate more time to fundraising operations. This hypothesis is examined by surveying 533 state legislators across three states about the time commitments and restraints of their campaign activities. I expect that candidates running for seats in professionalized legislatures will dedicate more time to fundraising as a function of campaigning. The expected findings have the potential to advance our understanding of the unwritten requirements placed on candidates for state legislative seats and the barriers to entry created by those requirements.

Author

• Max Seeley, Illinois State University