Balgarianovinite.com
Most Americans, regardless of party affiliation, say they are concerned about the influence large donors have on politicians. To combat the flood of big money unleashed by Citizens United, a growing number of states and cities have implemented public campaign financing systems that seek to amplify the role of small donors – with three more considering similar proposals this year.
Lawmakers in California, Hawaii and Maryland have proposed bills that would open the door to new or expanded public financing options for state and local races. A dozen other states already have systems in place to support candidates through grants and/or matching donation programs.
Advocates like the Brennan Center for Justice argue that public financing programs have proven to be the most effective tools for countering the influence of big money in politics. Opponents, however, contend that taxpayer money should not be used for political campaigns, and amplifying small donors may elevate more partisan voices rather than the views of average voters.
Legislation in progress
On Nov. 3, voters in California will vote on the California Fair Elections Act of 2026. If passed, it would repeal the 1988 ban on public funding of campaigns, opening the door for the state or local governments to establish public campaign finance programs.
Currently, Hawaii operates a limited, partial public funding program. Participation in the program has diminished greatly since it was first enacted more than 40 years ago. According to the Hawaiʻi Campaign Spending Commission, the program disbursed $1.7 million in inflated adjusted dollars, compared to only $71,000 in 2022.
On April 10, a bill that would increase the expenditure limit and amount of funds available for qualifying candidates passed Hawaii’s Senate and was sent back to the House. If the House approves the Senate’s changes, the measure will go to the governor. Several other proposals to reform the state’s public financing system have also been under consideration.
While Maryland has a public matching system in place, the program currently only allows gubernatorial tickets to qualify for public funds. Legislation currently in the House would allow candidates running for the state Senate or the House of Delegates to qualify for public funding as well. The bill also sets out the criteria for what requirements candidates have to meet to be able to receive matching funds.
Public financing in action
Currently, 14 states operate a public campaign financing program. On the local level, 26 municipalities operate public financing programs, 11 of which were enacted in the past decade.
States and localities that have programs vary in their implementation and operation. Many programs use a matching system in which small donations to participating candidates are multiplied using public funds. Other programs provide direct block grants to qualifying candidates or distribute vouchers that can be used as campaign contributions to local residents. Michigan’s hybrid program offers a 2:1 matching on small contributions in their primary and either matching or partial grants in the general election. All programs require participating candidates to meet certain public interest thresholds to show their viability.
The impact of public campaign financing programs is two-fold, according to Marina Pino, an elections expert at the Brennan Center.
“The goal here is to amplify the voices of small donors, those that can’t write big checks,” Pino said. “The other piece is to ensure that you have more candidates running for office who may not have felt like they had a shot to do so without access to wealth.”
New York’s first run
New York was the most recent state to enact a public financing program, opting for a matching system. In 2024, the first cycle in which candidates could receive matching funds, small contributions made up 49 percent of total contributions after including public matching funds. In the previous cycle, those who donated less than $250 only contributed 11 percent of total campaign funds, according to the Brennan Center.
Legislative candidates were eligible to receive matching funds ranging from a 12:1 to an 8:1 rate. This means that if a candidate received $250 from a single donor, they could have received $2,000-$3,000 in matching funds. Only contributions from in-district donors of $250 or less to a participating campaign are eligible for matching. With the large multiplier effect, candidates are more incentivized to focus their fundraising efforts on small, in-district donors and can be less reliant on institutional funding sources.
“It’s not just about who is running, it’s how these candidates are running,” Pino said. “And these programs are never going to change a locality’s politics overnight, but what it can do is show that candidates, even those who have been in the system for decades, they can engage differently with their constituents.”
While public financing programs primarily lower financial barriers for new candidates to enter the race, Pino said that even incumbents, who traditionally rely more on large donors and other institutional funding methods, shifted their fundraising focus in 2024.
Karen Wharton, a coalition coordinator for Citizen Action of New York, said that the matching funds program has allowed more candidates to throw their hats in the ring and access more campaign resources like consultants.
Research has shown that candidates from historically underrepresented groups, particularly women of color, rely more heavily on small donors and have had less access to large contributors. Public financing systems can potentially help narrow the fundraising gap between male and female candidates.
Wharton said that female candidates are often more likely to have fewer wealthy backers than their male counterparts, but that programs like public matching programs can help balance the scales.
“Our network is not all that inclusive of fabulously wealthy people, but we belong to sororities, we belong to church, to other groups, and if those groups are in the district and they each give five or ten dollars or a little bit of money, all of a sudden, we’re financially viable,” Wharton said.
Wharton has been advocating for the program to be fully funded ahead of the 2026 election cycle, asking the state’s legislators to provide $114.5 million to the Public Campaign Finance Board, $100 million of which will go to matching donations.
Seattle’s Democracy Vouchers
In 2025, voters in Seattle renewed funding for the city’s Democracy Voucher program, which was first enacted in 2015. Since its first cycle of implementation in 2017, advocates have praised the program for expanding the donor pool and allowing more candidates to run.
The program gives four $25 vouchers to each resident that can be distributed to the participating candidate of their choice.
Keshia Morris Desir, an associate director at Demos, said voucher programs allow for donors, even those who usually might not be able to donate, to support their preferred candidates.
“With voucher programs, it is a lot easier to tell a mother that has a number of kids, or even has one kid these days and is paying for child care expenses, ‘hey, you have this free 25 dollars to contribute to a candidate of your choice,’ rather than saying, ‘hey, can you take fifty dollars out of your pocket, or even ten dollars out of your pocket, to donate to some campaign,’” Morris Desir said.
Between 2017 and 2020, researchers found that on average, small donors accounted for 66 percent of contributions, including those using vouchers, up from roughly 28 percent between 2003 and 2016, before the program took effect. By comparison, researchers Alan Griffith and Thomas Noonen found that in similar cities in Washington and California without voucher programs, the share of small contributions did not increase.
Voucher users were more reflective of the city’s voters than traditional cash donors in 2023 in terms of age, race, gender and income, researchers from Georgetown University found.
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