Transparent Politics or Empty Legislation?

The Bipartisan Campaign Refonn Act (BCRA) was passed in 2003 as a way to clean up and make transparent the way in which congressional elections are funded. The legislation succeeded in banning soft money from the election process, however fell short of closing the gap between incumbents and challengers and clearing up the process. Using data from the Federal Election Commission this project analyzes the total receipts, contributions from parties and PACs, and, most importantly, the proportion of small donors for five traditionally Democratic districts, five traditionally Republican districts, and five districts that have been highly contested in recent elections. Using this data, the paper concludes that BCRA did not have an effect on congressional elections