Over the past week more than 90 contributions totaling more than $1.5 million dollars were made to political campaigns in Missouri as a last minute effort to reach voters before the election on November 4th according to the Associated Press. Political Science Professor at the University of Missouri Peverill Squire said these last minute donations are not out of the ordinary.
“It’s not unusual to have a flood of money coming in towards the end of the campaign,” Squire said. “For the most part they are trying to gain access to the people that they think are going to win.”
Squire said Missouri is the “wild west” when it comes to campaign finances due to the lack of restrictions in place to prohibit individuals from donating large sums of money. The Missouri Democratic State Committee donated more than $191,500 between October 27th and October 31st. Squire said this donation is an attempt by the democrats to target a few districts they hope to win in order to prevent republicans from gaining a supermajority in the general assembly.
“The money than comes in just the last few days for the elections, is really hard to put that to work to influence voters,” Squire said. “But it’s really intended to gain access to the people who win office.
Squire said people make last minute contributions to get in their good graces before the polls open on Tuesday.
