House members in close reelection races are talking up their success bringing money back to their districts through the fiscal 2025 appropriations bills and previous years’ funding packages to show they have a record of fighting for their constituents.
Lawmakers hoping to keep their seats in November have focused earmarks on infrastructure projects, including military facilities, water projects and neighborhood revitalization. The earmarks span their districts, including areas where members are likely to safely win and others where they might need to lure undecided voters.
Republicans hold more earmarking power in the House majority, though Democrats in tight races have also had success in bringing money home, including for education and infrastructure projects.
Earmarks were banned for a decade and brought back in 2021 by Democrats in control of both chambers, though with new restrictions to try to prevent uses that tarnished their image. Since then, according to E.J. Fagan, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Illinois Chicago, earmarks have shed some of their negative associations as political narratives shift away from budget deficits.
“Earmarks are often tangible representations of what a member of Congress does for the community,” he said, calling them an example of particularized benefits, or wins that a member can take direct credit for and easily point to.
That’s become more evident after Republicans took over the House last year and imposed further limitations on the earmarking process, including a narrowed focus on physical infrastructure and connections to previously authorized programs. “For the most part, that’s the real benefit, is being able to cut a ribbon that’s your responsibility,” Fagan said.
Importantly, earmarks are generally a campaign strategy only incumbents can use. Challengers can explain to voters how they plan to bring money home, but they may also have to rely on pointing to ethics questions about their opponents or poking holes in incumbents’ records on earmarking.
Vulnerable member hauls
To determine total earmark dollars per member, CQ Roll Call split shared projects evenly between co-sponsors. The 2025 appropriations bills are not expected to become law before the elections in November, so earmark totals could still change.
The most prolific earmarkers are generally not in tight reelection fights. Rep. James R. Comer, R-Ky., who secured over $240 million in earmarks — more than four times more than any member in a close race — won reelection in 2022 by nearly 50 points.
[Earmarks in House spending bills increase over last year’s versions]
Among Republicans in races rated Toss-up or Tilt Republican by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, Rep. Jen Kiggans of Virginia leads total earmarked funds, with nearly $57 million. That total is the 19th-highest among House members.
Kiggans’ total is bolstered by a $16 million project in the Military Construction-VA bill to build housing for servicemembers who are unaccompanied by dependent family members at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.
In a joint request with Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-Va., Kiggans secured $10 million for operations and maintenance at Norfolk Harbor. She also got $10 million for improvements to an interstate interchange in Virginia Beach.
In her 2022 campaign, Kiggans lost Virginia Beach City by a quarter of a percentage point. Naval Air Station Oceana is a major employer there.
This November, she will face Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal in the general election. Inside Elections rates the race as Tilt Republican. Kiggans won the seat in 2022 after defeating incumbent Democrat Elaine Luria, who had in turn defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018. Like Kiggans and Luria before her, Cotter Smasal is a Navy veteran.
Kiggans’ campaign website touts her ability to bring federal funding to the district, mentioning fiscal 2024 money for a radio station, a water tower, and broadband and sanitation on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Earlier this year, E&E News reported Kiggans withdrew an earmark request for a natural gas pipeline on the Eastern Shore that originally named Chesapeake Utilities Corp. rather than a local government, as the recipient, in violation of rules against aiding for-profit businesses. Kiggans had also received campaign contributions from political action committees associated with corporations that would likely have benefited from the pipeline, Politico Influence reported.
Just behind Kiggans in earmarks among members in tight races is Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., who secured nearly $54 million for his district. It’s the 23rd-highest total among all members.
The single largest project would bring $8 million from the Transportation-HUD bill for water quality improvements to the city of Lake Elsinore, Calif. Also in that bill, two $5 million projects would support flood mitigation at Indian Canyon and lining Whitewater Channel in Indian Wells. Another $5 million project would support updates to an interstate interchange in Calimesa.
Calvert, the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chairman, is running for a 17th term. His opponent, Democrat Will Rollins, also ran against Calvert in 2022. Calvert won that race by less than 5 points, with roughly 52 percent of the vote. Inside Elections rates the race this year as Tilt Republican.
While Indian Wells and Calimesa are Republican-leaning areas, President Joe Biden won in the city of Lake Elsinore in 2020.
Calvert also touts previous earmarks on his campaign site, including for an interchange in Corona and for a homeless shelter in Palm Springs.
In August, activist group End Citizens United filed an ethics complaint against Calvert for failing to disclose ownership of certain properties, alleging that some of his previous earmarks could increase the value of those properties. He also faced similar questions before the earmark ban, but the House Ethics Committee in 2007 cleared Calvert of any potential wrongdoing.
Rollins has been using the earmark issue as campaign fodder, calling for a new Ethics panel investigation and accusing Calvert of “using public office as a personal slush fund.” Calvert’s campaign has called the allegations “meritless” and “debunked lies.”
GOP Reps. David Valadao of California and Don Bacon of Nebraska secured $47 million and $40 million, respectively, in the fiscal 2025 bills. Valadao is on the Tilt Republican list and Bacon’s race is a Toss-up.
Valadao’s largest project would support a new water plant, while Bacon’s would include planning and design for a Survivable Airborne Operations Center at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha.
The only lawmaker on either party’s endangered list that does not request earmarks is Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., whose race is rated Tilt Republican and who barely eked out a 2022 win, by less than 1 percentage point.
Veteran appropriators
Among Democrats in close House races, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio leads the pack with nearly $20 million in earmarks in this year’s appropriations bills, the 103rd-highest total among House members. She serves as ranking member on the Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee.
Kaptur’s two biggest requests are each worth $3 million. The first would support Toledo Public Schools’ redevelopment of the Scott Park Campus, formerly owned by the University of Toledo, into a hub including three magnet schools, residential housing and a multisport dome. The second project would support expanded treatment capacity at the Erie County Sawmill Creek wastewater treatment plant.
Toledo votes safely Democratic, and Erie County includes Sandusky and Huron, which both lean blue as well.
Kaptur is seeking her 22nd term. She is one of a handful of Democrats representing districts former President Donald Trump won in 2020. This November, she will face Republican Derek Merrin, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. Inside Elections rates the race as Tilt Democratic.
Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., who represents another district Trump won four years ago, secured $17 million in the fiscal 2025 bills, which is 128th-highest among all members of the House.
Cartwright’s two largest projects were joint requests with Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa. The first, for just over $2 million, would support the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office’s Opioid Crimes Section, with the intent of reducing drug use and helping those with opioid-related substance use disorder return to the workforce in Monroe, Pike and Carbon counties.
The second project, worth $2.3 million, would support teaching science, technology, engineering and math in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, Pike and Monroe counties.
Cartwright, the top Democrat on the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee, is seeking a 7th term and will face Republican Rob Bresnahan in the November general election. Inside Elections rates the race as Tilt Democratic.
Earlier this year, Cartwright pointed to earmarks he secured in the fiscal 2024 appropriations bills. His co-sponsor on his major funding requests, Wild, is also in a tight Tilt Democratic race.
Do voters care?
While candidates are quick to point to money they’ve secured for their districts, Fagan isn’t sure voters are paying much attention. He said the races are likely to turn more on national issues, with results likely to be “highly correlated” to how constituents vote at the top of the ticket, than they will on relatively small parochial projects.
“I am very skeptical that at the end of the day it matters very much,” Fagan said.
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