What is public financing?
Public financing is a voluntary system that gives a limited amount of public funding to qualified candidates for office.
Public financing of elections means that our elected officials work for the voters, and not for the special interests. It allows lawmakers to focus on the issues that concern their constituents, like jobs and education, and not on doling out pork to campaign contributors. It also levels the political playing field, giving all citizens a fair shot at getting elected.
In full public financing systems - also known as "clean elections" or "voter-owned elections" - a candidate must demonstrate public support by collecting a certain number of small (usually $5 or $10) donations from voters, and must agree to not accept any further money from private sources. The amount of public funding received is usually determined by the average cost of a race for that office over the last few election cycles. There is also a possibility of receiving extra "fair fight" funds if the candidate's opponent opts out of public financing or if the race is targeted by independent expenditures.
Some states and cities also have partial public financing systems. Under these systems, candidates still raise private money, but they are eligible for matching public funds. The presidential public financing system is an example of this. Partial public financing systems offer candidates some freedom from fundraising, but not to the degree of full public financing.
Learn more about full public financing for Congress.
Take action to urge your representatives and the candidates running for Congress to support the Fair Elections Now Act.