The Decline of Access Donors in Funding National Nominating Conventions

ABSTRACT The US major-party presidential nominating conventions are an essential platform for a political party’s branding and messaging for upcoming presidential and congressional elections. The conventions also can provide revenue and media attention to their host cities and, consequently, convention fundraising has grown substantially in recent decades. Convention fundraising rules were changed in 2014, tripling the limit for contributions to a party’s campaign funds and removing limits on contributions to host-city committees. Although we do not expect these changes to affect individual donors, we expect corporations, banks, and labor unions to have taken advantage of these new rules. Elections since 2014, however, have been unusual in many ways—for instance, in the relationship between the nominees and their parties and, in 2020, the public health precautions required to hold conventions. This study examines developments in political-party convention fundraising since 2014, focusing on the relationships among candidates, their parties, and the cities where conventions have been held. To make this determination, funding reports were collected for the 2000–2024 election cycles. The article explores changes in the characteristics of convention donors—their other contributions and their relationships to candidates, party committees, and host cities—and notes variations that might be attributable to the nominees or the host cities. It considers whether the new convention-funding rules have matured sufficiently that it is possible to make broad claims about the effects of the rules themselves.