Money & Politics News

“Elections decided before a single vote is cast”

COLUMBUS—Winning state senate candidates who run in safe districts out fundraise their opponents 37-to-1 according to analysis written by Research for the Rest of Us and released today by Ohio PIRG noting, for the first time, the connection between gerrymandering and campaign financing. By comparison, the analysis shows that winning state senate candidates in more competitive districts experienced a 7-to-1 fundraising advantage. Similar trends were found for congressional and state house races.

The new analysis, "Making Safe Seats Safer", details how campaign fundraising and gerrymandering substantially tilt the playing field in favor of some candidates and against others. In only 2 of the 111 non-competitive districts in the state did a candidate beat the odds by winning in a district where the partisan make up disadvantaged them while also facing an opponent who raised more money.

“Issues 3 and 4 on the Ohio ballot will undo the damage created by years of backroom partisan deal making and special interest favoritism,” said Erin Bowser, Ohio PIRG Director. “The ballot measures may frighten the politically powerful, but imagine a system in which voters, not politicians, choose who represents them.”

The report also found that Ohio candidates who raised the most money won 95% of the time. In congressional races, winners out raised their opponents by $15 million, in the state senate, the advantage was $9.7 million, and in state house races, $11 million. The findings provide strong evidence that Ohio elections are in need of reform if they are to be fair and open democratic contests.

The report comes on the same day as a report by Common Cause entitled, “The Trojan Horse: Early Campaign Finance Reports Show That Ohio’s New Campaign Finance Law Has Opened the Floodgates to Big Money,” That report can be found online at http://www.commoncause.org/ohio.

“Rigging the rules means that essentially elections are decided before a single vote is cast,” said Gary Kalman, Democracy Advocate in Ohio PIRG’s national office. “Self-interested partisans and powerful special interests have set themselves up to determine who runs and who wins elected office in this state.”

A copy of the full report can be found at http://www.researchfortherestofus.org/MakingSafeSeatsSafer/saferseatsindex.html