Proceedings of the International Association for Business and Society

Volume 4, 1993

Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting

Ann B. Matasar
Pages 321-332

The Role of Corporate PACs in Financing the Campaigns of Women Candidates for Federal Office in 1992
Preliminary Findings

Corporate political action committees (PACs) have been pragmatic contributors to election campaigns since 1974. They consistently have sought access to incumbents regardless of party affiliation or political philosophy and ordinarily have shunned making funds available to challengers or open seat contestants with the rare exception of conservative Republicans. The circumstances surrounding the 1992 election enhanced the potential for success among non-incumbents, both challengers and particularly, open seat contestants. Many of these candidates were women, often liberal Democrats, a group which historically had received little, if any, corporate PAC contributions. In order to maintain access to these likely incumbents in the new Congress, corporate PACs were forced to revise their pragmatic strategies and to contribute in a manner previously associated with ideological PACs.