PAC Spending and Roll Call Voting in the U.S. House: An Empirical Extension

This paper expands the investigation of how PAC spending affects the roll call voting behavior to the U.S. House of Representative. Using a theoretical framework which draws on the voting literature, we develop models that explain Representative’s voting behavior in a pre-PAC and post-PAC world. Testing both models we find weak support for a Downsian view of voting participation in the first model. The second model supports the alteration of voting incentives resulting from PAC spending. We find that PACs have a positive effect on voting participation. These results are consistent with earlier findings that investigate Senate behavior.