FEC Announces New Contribution Limits for Federal Candidates

The Federal Election Commission has announced its inflation-adjustments for contribution limits to federal political recipients. These new limits apply to the 2023-2024 federal elections, and represent a significant increase from previous limits.

For example, an individual may now contribute $3,300 per election (up from $2,900) to a candidate for federal office. Keep in mind that the primary and general elections are treated as separate for these purposes, so an individual can now contribute the maximum of $6,600 in one election cycle to a federal candidate.

Similarly, an individual’s limit for contributions to a national party committee has been raised to $41,300 per calendar year. In addition, the limit is now $123,900 per account each calendar year for an individual’s contributions to the accounts of a national party committee for 1) presidential nominating conventions, 2) election recounts and other legal proceedings, and 3) national party headquarters buildings.

The above-referenced limits are indexed for inflation in odd-numbered years, and the next adjustment would take place early in 2025.

Keep in mind that the limits for contributions to a federal PAC ($5,000 annually) and a State/District/Local party committee ($10,000 annually) are not subject to inflation adjustments, and thus these limits remain unchanged from previous years.

These limits apply only to federal recipients. The contribution limits for New Jersey state and local recipients are not subject to inflation adjustments—with the exception of gubernatorial candidates—and thus the existing limits as published by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission still apply to these recipients.

However, the Elections Transparency Act (A4372/S2866) is currently under consideration in Trenton. In addition to making other potential changes to New Jersey’s campaign-finance laws, this Act as currently drafted would double current contribution limits for New Jersey state and local candidates, political party committees, and other political committees.

Avi D. Kelin, Esq. is Partner at Genova Burns and specializes in Corporate Political Activity Law and Autonomous Vehicle Law. He can be reached via email here or call 973.533.0777.

An earlier version of this post appeared in InsiderNJ.