Funding Patterns Project

This project examines how campaign donations flow to Massachusetts state legislators and how funding patterns relate to legislative influence, committee power, ideology, and election outcomes. Using campaign finance data from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF), the project will link donors to individual legislators and analyze contribution patterns across committee memberships, committee chairmanships, and legislative leadership roles. The analysis will investigate whether legislators holding influential positions receive greater financial support, which industries and donor groups target specific committees, and whether donations are primarily local or national in origin. In addition, the project will merge campaign finance data with legislator party affiliation, ideology indicators, district-level election results, and donor geographic data to explore whether donor behavior can help explain or predict electoral success. Where data allows, the project will further analyze donation patterns in relation to key policy areas, including prison and criminal justice reform, health policy, education, housing, public transportation, and energy and environmental policy. The goal is to provide a clearer, data-driven understanding of how political money is distributed in Massachusetts and how it aligns with legislative power structures and policy priorities.