Doctoral Dissertation Research: Money and State Supreme Court Elections

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What are the effects of money in state supreme court elections? Do these effects vary across selection systems and type of elections (incumbent-challenger versus open seat, primaries versus general)? Despite the fact that no area of political science has received greater attention than the study of elections, judicial elections, the means by which the most judges in the United States attain their positions, have been virtually ignored. This doctoral dissertation systematically analyzes and answers two central questions: 1) who contributes to state supreme court candidates, how much do they give, and to whom do they give? and 2) how do campaign contributions and expenditures affect the outcomes of state supreme court elections? The researcher examines these questions using all contested elections for state supreme courts between 1990-1995 in all states that require candidates for judicial office to file campaign finance reports. The researcher combines data to be collected for this project on campaign contributions and expenditures with a database on state supreme court elections collected by Melinda Gann Hall (SES- 9911166) and Paul Brace (SES- 9911082). This dissertation will not only answer the question of whether money affects state supreme court elections, but also how and under what circumstances. Further, by comparing the influence of money in state supreme court elections to elections for other offices as well as comparing partisan elections to nonpartisan elections and retention elections, this dissertation will enable us to gain a more complete picture of the factors influencing the electoral process.