The politician, the party, and the president: How do political scandals propagate across the party network?

Abstract

This study documents that news about a local politician's misbehavior has strong repercussions on their party: cross-border and cross-electoral spillovers emerge. For identification, I use random audits conducted in Brazilian municipalities. I also use detailed geospatial information on radio antenna coverage to construct the relevant neighborhoods where information spreads. Furthermore, by analyzing a decade of newspaper articles, I show that local corruption is covered by the national media and that high corruption cases receive more coverage. The sentiment of news coverage during national elections is more likely to be negative for parties with national candidates, highlighting the important role national media plays in amplifying local events and shaping public sentiment. This study helps us better understand the interplay between local and national political dynamics and provides insights into how local misbehavior can have national repercussions.