Steny Hoyer

Published on: Wednesday, August 12, 2009

By Nancy Royden

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer collected $668,462 in campaign contributions during the second quarter of 2009, bringing his total yearly contributions to approximately $1.25 million, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission in mid-July.

No challengers have filed with the FEC yet, which indicates there are no congressional hopefuls in Maryland’s 5th District who have raised or spent $5,000 to run for Hoyer’s seat in 2010, a seat which he has held onto for 28 years.

To the casual observer, Hoyer might appear to be one of the most secure Democrats in the House and the accumulation of his massive war chest could look like overkill. To campaign finance experts, it’s par for the course.

“Despite the fact that they seem incredibly secure to us, they generally do not feel that way,” said John Samples, director of the Center for Representative Government at the Cato Institute, a prominent public policy think tank.

Even with no serious danger in sight, incumbents tend to “run scared” in order to insure against any threats that may emerge.

“The money matters less in terms of attracting challengers,” Samples said. “The most important thing is whether they think he’s beatable.”

Any drop in fundraising totals or margin of victory could be seen as signs of weakness by potential challengers, and there’s little reason for Hoyer to tempt fate.

Thomas Mann, a Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, said that, in addition to raising money for their own safety, strong House incumbents also use their funds to help colleagues within their party.

“More recently, they have been expected to raise and transfer to their party campaign committees large sums to be used in competitive districts,” Mann said. “As Majority Leader, Hoyer is expected to raise millions of dollars for his party’s congressional elections.”

Hoyer seems to be living up to the task. In 2009 alone, his campaign has transferred $385,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the self-described “campaign arm” of House Democrats as a whole. He has also contributed $25,000 to the New York State Democratic Committee, $10,000 to the Maryland Democratic Party, and $42,000 to 11 specific Democrats’ campaigns.

Dave Levinthal, the communications director at the Center for Responsive Politics, an organization that tracks campaign financing, said money isn’t the sole determining factor when it comes to election outcomes, but it does tend to give incumbents a tighter hold on elected office.

“Incumbency is a very difficult obstacle to overcome for any challenger,” Levinthal said. “With incumbency comes dollars.”

Collins Bailey, a Republican who ran against Hoyer in 2008 and won almost 25 percent of the vote despite having raised only 0.07 percent as much as Hoyer, said that the money isn’t as important as the message. To the contrary, Bailey sees Hoyer’s long history as a well-funded, perennial politician as a disadvantage for the incumbent because he senses a possible voter backlash against Washington in 2010.

“I believe in a citizen congress,” Bailey said. “Go up there to do the people’s business and come on home.”

Bailey said he plans on running against Hoyer again in 2010, and he thinks his limited government message will resonate with disaffected voters.

“The American people are smart… they get it,” said Bailey. “It’s the elected officials who have been there for years that don’t get it.”

Despite Bailey’s optimism, others believe that Hoyer is firmly entrenched in the fifth district for reasons beyond mere fundraising ability.

“Hoyer has a solid Democratic district and is very popular with his constituents,” said Mann. “The money he raises is not his most valuable asset in winning reelection.