Candidates can use campaign funds for child care in most states, but few do

Democratic Sen. Kim Jackson of Georgia has two boys, ages 3 and 4 months. Her older son is in daycare, but finding someone to watch him while Jackson campaigns for reelection on nights and weekends is a tricky scheduling and financial puzzle.

“It’s very difficult to be accessible to your constituents if you’re not available during non-traditional hours,” Jackson said.

Starting in 2023, Georgia will be able to use campaign finance money to pay for child care costs. Jackson is using the policy for the first time this year, after she and her wife adopted their eldest son last year.

“So much of my need for childcare is about being able to do my job, which is to be with people,” Jackson said. “These funds make that easier.”

Two-thirds of states now allow candidates of either gender running for public office to use campaign funds to pay for child care costs after the Federal Elections Commission approved the practice for federal candidates in 2018. While women with young children say it has been monumental for their campaigns and its use is growing, the number of candidates abusing the policy remains relatively low and numerous complex barriers remain that prevent mothers from running for office.

Despite making up half the population, women hold about 32.8 percent of all state House seats, according to the Center for American Women in Politics. Advocates of allowing campaign funds for child care say it’s a way to achieve more equal representation in government, and that bringing mothers to the table is crucial to their perspectives on policies ranging from the economy to parental leave.

Since 2018, more states have adopted policies allowing candidates to use campaign funds for child care, with 33 states now allowing it. Hawaii is the most recent, according to Vote Mama, a foundation that tracks usage. Its political action committee arm backs left-leaning candidates.

Liuba Grechen Shirley, CEO and founder of Vote Mama, said the legislation has bipartisan support and she expects all 50 states to approve its use in the next five years.

Exact guidelines vary from state to state, but most define qualified use as covering expenses that are the direct result of campaign activities. Candidates use funds to pay for babysitters, child care, and preschool.

“This is how we get working people into the office,” said Grechen Shirley.

But from 2018 to 2022, just 87 candidates used the funds in state and local races, Vote Mama found. The group does not yet have data for the current election cycle.

Grechen Shirley noted that usage has grown each year. In 2018, about $10,000 of the campaign funds was reportedly spent on child care, a figure that grew to $225,567 in 2022. More women than men use the funds.

According to the group, only 5% of state lawmakers are mothers of children under 18.

Candidates of color spent 70% of the total reported funds over the four-year period. Democratic candidates overwhelmingly spent the most, with Republicans spending just 11% of the total reported amount, Vote Mama found.

Some attribute the limited use to a lack of education on the subject. The more candidates use it, the more common it becomes, said Grechen Shirley, who originally sought FEC approval as a congressional candidate.

In West Virginia, secretary of state spokesman Mike Queen said his office is not aware of anyone abusing a law allowing the practice since it passed in 2021. Queen said staff has made a conscious effort to educate candidates, county clerks and organizations such as Rotary clubs about the policy.

“This is just one way to reach out to men and women with children and say, ‘Listen, your input matters,’” he said.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Democratic Rep. Kayla Young, said the aging state needs the voices of parents in policymaking, “especially mothers who bear the brunt of childcare in our society.”

According to Grechen Shirely, campaign managers have sometimes advised women not to use campaign funds for child care in order to avoid political attacks, similar to how candidates who receive a campaign salary can be criticized.

“Women have always been told not to talk about their motherhood, and that’s not just in politics, but honestly in every field,” she said.

In the past, Texas lawmakers have made a point of using campaign funds to destigmatize child care, “but none of us felt comfortable diving into it,” said Democratic Rep. Erin Zwiener. Uncertainty about the guidelines and fear of reprimand, she said, are the reasons some parents avoid the hassle altogether.

Zwiener ran for office in 2018 while pregnant with her now 6-year-old daughter. She’s not using any funds this year because her daughter is older and in school, but she used campaign funds to provide babysitting during the 2020 election campaign.

Candidates who use campaign funds to pay for child care say it is extremely helpful to cover costs that add up quickly over time, even if the amount is relatively small.

Rep. Cara Pavalock-D’Amato, a five-term Republican representative in the Connecticut House of Representatives, said it was relatively easy to campaign with her son in 2018. But by the 2022 election, he’ll be 4.

“Now that he’s gotten older and they want to get out and do all those things, it’s definitely more difficult,” she said.

Pavalock-D’Amato said she likely won’t use the funds this year because she has no opponents. But in 2022, she relied on campaign funds to cover weekend child care when she campaigned door to door, spending about $500 to $1,000. She supported authorizing the use when it passed in 2021.

“I know there are people who voted against it, and I said, ‘You shouldn’t have children,’” she said.

Opposition and progress have taken many forms. In Connecticut, Caitlin Clarkson Pereira ran for state representative in 2018 when her daughter was 3, but her request to use campaign funds for child care was rejected by an all-male committee that argued it was a personal expense. Pereira appealed the decision and later won in 2020, though she did not win her election.

Georgia Democratic Sen. Nabilah Islam gave birth four weeks early in July and is considering using campaign funds to care for the newborn starting in October while she runs for re-election in the Atlanta suburbs. Islam said the state should have implemented the policy passed last year “decades ago.”

The challenges for mothers seeking public office don’t end once they’re elected. Legislation often requires commuting across large states and working obscure hours. Few earn a full-time salary.

Michigan Sen. Mallory McMorrow was the second woman to give birth while serving in the Senate. The state does not allow campaign funds to be used for child care and the Senate has no parental leave policy, but McMorrow decided to take a leave of absence after giving birth to her daughter shortly after the legislative session began.

“It was a calculated political risk,” said McMorrow, a Democrat.

McMorrow navigated breastfeeding and postpartum depression during the session. McMorrow said she would support using campaign funds while in office to pay for child care, which could be tracked along with other financial records of government officials. Twelve states have allowed such use, according to Vote Mama.

“It’s not like your child just disappears when you get elected,” McMorrow said.

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Associated Press journalists Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta, Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, Leah Willingham in Charleston, West Virginia, and Nadia Lathan in Austin contributed to this report.

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