No Barrier at Entry? LGBTQ Candidates and Campaign Finance in State Elections

Research on political inequality often focuses on voter bias while overlooking how disparities emerge earlier in the electoral process through campaign finance. This paper examines whether LGBTQ candidates face disadvantages in early fundraising in state legislative elections and whether campaign resources translate into electoral success differently across candidate groups. Using original candidate-level data from first-quarter campaign finance filings, the analysis finds no evidence that LGBTQ candidates are systematically disadvantaged in raising early campaign funds. Across multiple models, LGBTQ candidates raise amounts comparable to non-LGBTQ candidates and sometimes maintain a relative fundraising advantage over their opponents. Early fundraising is also a weak predictor of electoral success once incumbency and state-level differences are considered. However, LGBTQ candidates exhibit significantly higher cost per vote, suggesting that inequalities operate not through access to financial resources, but through the efficiency with which resources convert into electoral support.