Earmarks as a Means and an End: The Link between Earmarks and Campaign Contributions in the U.S. House of Representatives

Legislative earmarks have taken center stage in the popular press in recent years as journalists, pundits, the president, and, sometimes, even legislators themselves question the economic, representational, and general policy implications of this type of federal spending. Some scholars suggest that legislators garner either direct or indirect electoral benefits from this behavior, but empirical findings are mixed. In this article, we place this discussion in the context of the literature on the link between campaign contributions and legislative services. We argue that MCs use earmarks to reward loyal contributors while interest groups attract earmarks by contributing to legislators' campaigns. Utilizing a two-stage OLS technique, we find a robust relationship between defense earmarks and campaign contributions from defense political action committees during the 111th Congress.