How much money can you donate to a 2020 presidential candidate?
There are technically limits on how much an individual can donate to one candidate
Former California Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox discusses 2020 Democratic presidential candidates and says the Democratic establishment is ‘really afraid.’
Democratic presidential candidates are knee-deep in the battle for campaign cash in a primary race that’s loaded with billionaires.
While some 2020 candidates like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have eschewed big-money fundraisers in favor of grassroots donations, other candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden, have said they will accept super PAC money.
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Still, there are technically limits on how much an individual can donate to one candidate: Since 2002, when a new set of campaign finance law went into effect, the Federal Election Committee updates certain contribution limits, like the amount that an individual can give to candidates and party committees, every two years. Those amounts are indexed to inflation.
But after a 2014 Supreme Court decision, McCutcheon v. FEC, there is no longer an aggregate limit on how much one person can donate in total to all candidates, PACs and party committees combined.
For instance, an individual is only allowed to donate $2,800 directly to each candidate per election, but because of the Supreme Court ruling, that donor could give the same amount to 25, or 100, contenders if they chose to do so. The same goes for party committees, which can accept up to $35,500 per year. An individual could also give $106,500 to a party’s convention, recount and building funds.
DEMOCRATIC IOWA CAUCUS FLOODED WITH SUPER PAC MONEY
But thanks to the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United ruling in 2010, super PACs, which cannot contribute directly to a politician or political party, but can campaign for or against candidates, can accept unlimited contributions. Unlike super PACs, a political action committee has a donation cap of $5,000. That means an individual may be limited to donating just $2,800 to a candidate's campaign but that person could provide endless funds to a super PAC supporting the same candidate.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, super PACs spent more than $1 billion during the 2016 election cycle.