The gender gap in Minnesota politics extends to campaign donations
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Minnesota has one of the nation's highest rates of female donors to state political campaigns, but women still remain underrepresented as political spenders, per a new analysis.
Driving the news: An estimated 40% of Minnesota's state-level candidate donations in 2022 — $4 for every $10 — came from a woman, according to a new report on the gender "donor gap" from Rutgers' Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP).
Why it matters: Women remain disproportionately absent from the halls of political power — and from the political donations that fuel those halls, Axios' Emma Hurt writes.
The big picture: Nationwide, women donors made up just between 29-33% of the contributions to general election candidates at statewide and state legislative levels between 2019 and 2022, the report found.
What's happening: The underrepresentation of candidates and donors are entwined, as lead researcher Kira Sanbonmatsu told Axios.
- The persistent gender wealth gap also plays a role.
Zoom out: While the report found the disparity to be worse in some states —just 14% of Nebraska's contributions in 2022 were from women — no state last year had contributions equivalent to their female population.
- Colorado, which has one of the nation's highest rates of women serving in the Legislature, came in on top with 46% to its 49% female population.
Zoom in: In Minnesota, 37% of state legislators are female, trending above the national average of about 33%. Just two women, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Auditor Julie Blaha, currently serve in state-level constitutional offices.
What they're saying: Amy Koch, a longtime political strategist and former Senate Republican leader, said the report underscores the importance of asking women to run and intentionally courting female donors through a party's candidates and messaging.
- "We're leaving a lot of great candidates and a lot of money on the bottom line, and we're missing out. That's not a winning formula."
Of note: While the CAWP analysis focused on contributions made directly to candidates, one of the state's most prolific donors to state DFL causes and political groups, philanthropist Alida Rockefeller Messinger, is a woman.
What we're watching: Female donors on both sides of the aisle disproportionately support women candidates, according to the report, though the pattern is stronger among Democratic women.
- Koch said putting a bigger emphasis on courting women as candidates and donors could help state Republicans level the scales of representation.