Investigate Money in State Politics
Money in state politics plays a pivotal role in shaping public policy in individual states and across the nation. We track political donations in all 50 states. Take a look.
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What's New at Follow The Money?
Names in the News: Sheldon Adelson
Who is Sheldon Adelson, and why is he making headlines? After Adelson made a $5 million donation to a federal "Super PAC," our researchers decided to dig in to his generous political giving at the state level. This report is what we found.
Independent Spending in the States
How has the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling affected political campaigns in the states? Check out our state-specific analyses on how, or if, independent spending has changed since the court permitted corporations and unions to independently advocate for or against candidates using their general treasury funds. In these reports, Institute researchers identified top spenders, which races were targeted, and how much was spent. In addition, they assessed the quality of the state's independent spending disclosure.
Be sure to check out our latest report, Independent Spending in Maine, 2006-2010.
A Perfect Storm: How Speech and Spending are Politicizing State Supreme Courts
We love to see our data being used by activists, citizens, and academics alike to help further their goals. Here is an example of our data being used as the foundation for an undergraduate political science thesis by Lyndsay Steinmetz. Keep up the good work!
Banking on Bondage: Mass Incarceration and Private Prisons
In this report, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) examines the history of prison privatization. The report concludes that private prison companies owe their continued and prosperous existence to skyrocketing immigration detention as well as the firm hold they have gained over elected and appointed officials through campaign contributions and lobbying. Figures for state-level contributions were taken from the Institute’s data.
Unholy Alliance: How the private prison industry is corrupting our democracy and promoting mass incarceration
Using the most recent data on private prison lobbying and campaign contributions, Public Campaign and PICO National Network use this report to connect the dots between rising incarceration rates, increased detention of immigrants, growing private prison revenue, and increased spending on political campaigns and lobbying. The report contends that private prison lobbyists regularly buy influence with state and federal officials to change or preserve policies that increase the number of people behind bars. All information on state lobbying and campaign contributions is based on data provided by the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
NIMSP 2011 Annual Report
The Institute's full-color annual report is now online, full of lively information about our past year's activities and findings. The numbers alone are guaranteed to raise your eyebrows and expand your mind. Did you know that Institute data and research is cited, on average, nearly twice a day? Or that it requires five servers just to contain the entire database? Take a look!
Lobbying Expenditures
The Institute now offers lobbying expenditure information for California, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, and Wisconsin. This pilot expenditure database allows the public to see how much money was spent lobbying elected officials.
50-State Assessment of Lobbying Expenditure Data
Operating behind the scenes, lobbyists and their clients leverage great impact on public policy, often under little or no public scrutiny. In its pursuit of more transparent government, the Institute recently completed a thorough assessment of the widely varying regulations, availability, and quality of state lobbying expenditure data in all 50 states. The results of that assessment, as well as a breakdown of common disclosure issues, are listed by state in the full report.
November 2, 2011 Update: New data for Nebraska has been posted.- Best Practices for Independent Spending: Part One
What is independent spending? Organizations and individuals spend millions of dollars every election cycle supporting or opposing candidates and ballot measures-without coordinating or consulting with the candidate or measure committee. Most of the time, a state calls these independent expenditures. In Part One of a two-part review of disclosure of this independent spending in the 50 states, researchers at the National Institute on Money in State Politics reviewed each state's law to define best practices for independent spending disclosure.
Best Practices for State Campaign-Finance Disclosure, 2010
Information collected and held by governmental agencies must be similarly accessible to enable and ensure a strong democracy. To assess the current state of campaign-finance disclosure across the country, the Institute surveyed the 2010 disclosure practices in each of the 50 states. Using the information obtained from the surveys, the Institute then identified best practices for state agencies to employ to best provide campaign-finance data to the public.
Click here to see the surveys of the 2010 disclosure practices in each of the 50 states.- State Surveys: Best Practices for State Campaign-Finance Disclosure, 2010
With over a decade's worth of experience collecting and analyzing state campaign finance data, the Institute is in a unique position to examine campaign-finance disclosure practices across the country. To assess the current state of campaign-finance disclosure at the state level, the Institute surveyed the 2010 disclosure practices in each of the 50 states. Check out your home state, and compare it to others, using this link.
Party Control Map: 2009-2010 Elections
Our new Party Control Map gives you a state-level district-by-district visualization that shows party representations after the 2008 and 2010 elections. With a simple click you can also compare the two maps to see how/if party control has changed. It’s an easy and comprehensive way to visualize the political power shift being played out in state legislatures today.
