Campaign Contribution Limit Lookup

Limits on gifts to candidates apply separately to each election: a primary, a general election, a runoff and a special election each have their own limit. FEC

Independent-expenditure-only committees, often called super PACs, may accept unlimited contributions, including from corporations and unions. FEC

The FEC oversees the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, the Senate, president and vice president. FEC

How the Lookup Works

• The FEC’s table lists the contribution limits for 2025-2026 federal elections. FEC
• In the FEC’s table, the limits marked as indexed for inflation in odd-numbered years include those for individuals and nonmulticandidate PACs: $3,500 per election to a candidate, $44,300 per year to a national party committee and $132,900 per account per year to a national party’s additional accounts. FEC
• Each inflation-adjusted limit on gifts to candidates lasts two years and ends on the date of the next general election. 11 CFR 110.1(b)(1)(ii)
• A campaign can’t keep a contribution over the limit. FEC

What “Per Election” Means

• Limits on gifts to candidates apply separately to each election: a primary, a general election, a runoff and a special election each have their own limit. FEC
• All presidential primaries held in a calendar year count as one election. FEC
• A party caucus or convention is a separate election only if state law gives it the power to choose the nominee, as in Connecticut, Utah and Virginia. FEC
• Independent and minor-party candidates get a primary limit even when they are not in an actual primary. FEC
• A candidate who is unopposed still has a separate limit for that election. FEC
• After an election, a gift designated for it is allowed only up to the campaign’s remaining debts from that election, so a primary gift made after the primary can only help pay off primary debts. 11 CFR 110.1(b)(3)(i)
• A candidate who loses the primary has no separate limit for the general election, and the campaign must refund, redesignate or reattribute general election gifts within 60 days of the primary. FEC
• A gift that doesn’t name an election counts toward the candidate’s next election. FEC
• A donor names the election in writing, on the check or in a signed statement sent with the gift. FEC

Party Committees and Their Special Accounts

• A party’s national committee, Senate campaign committee and House campaign committee each count as a separate national party committee with separate limits. FEC
• The special-account limits apply to a national party’s accounts for the presidential nominating convention, for election recounts, contests and other legal proceedings, and for headquarters buildings. FEC
• Each of these accounts may accept up to three times the party’s regular contribution limit. FEC
• Only the national committee, not the Senate or House campaign committee, may have a convention account. FEC
• A state party committee and the local party committees in that state are presumed affiliated, so contributions to or from any of them count against one shared limit. FEC
• The shared $5,000 per election a state party and its local committees may give a candidate assumes the state party has qualified as a multicandidate committee. FEC
• A local party committee that can show it is independent has its own limits, the same as a PAC’s. FEC

PACs, Super PACs and Multicandidate Status

• In the FEC’s table, a PAC is a committee that makes contributions to other federal political committees, whether a separate segregated fund (a PAC a corporation or union sets up) or a nonconnected PAC. FEC
• A multicandidate PAC has been registered with the FEC for at least six months, has received contributions from more than 50 people and, unless it is a state party, has contributed to five or more federal candidates. 11 CFR 100.5(e)(3)
• A committee becomes multicandidate as soon as it meets that test, whether or not it has told the FEC. 11 CFR 110.2(a)(1)
• Super PACs and the non-contribution accounts of hybrid PACs may accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, unions and other political committees. FEC
• Super PACs can’t accept contributions from foreign nationals, federal contractors, national banks or federally chartered corporations. FEC
• Super PACs and hybrid PACs don’t make contributions to candidates. FEC

Who Can’t Contribute

• A foreign national may not make a contribution or donation, directly or indirectly, in connection with any federal, state or local election. 11 CFR 110.20(b)
• An individual is a foreign national if not a U.S. citizen, not a U.S. national and not lawfully admitted for permanent residence (a green card holder). 11 CFR 110.20(a)(3)
• Federal law makes it unlawful for any corporation or labor union to contribute in connection with an election for president, the Senate or the House, and for any candidate or political committee to knowingly accept such a contribution. Corporations and unions may still give unlimited amounts to super PACs and to the non-contribution accounts of hybrid PACs. U.S. CodeFEC
• Corporations here include nonprofit corporations, trade associations, incorporated membership groups and incorporated cooperatives. FEC
• Campaigns may accept contributions from PACs that corporations, unions, trade associations and incorporated membership groups set up. FEC
• Federal government contractors may not contribute to any political party, committee or candidate for federal office. A contractor’s employees, the spouse of an individual contractor and the individual partners of a contractor firm may still contribute from their personal funds. FEC
• No one may give someone else money to make a contribution, give in another person’s name, or let their own name be used for someone else’s gift, whatever the amount. 11 CFR 110.4(b)
• A corporation can’t reimburse employees for their contributions, through bonuses or any other way. FEC
• National banks and federally chartered corporations can’t contribute in any election, federal, state or local. FEC

State and Local Races

• The FEC oversees the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, the Senate, president and vice president. FEC
• The FEC notes that a federal campaign’s gifts to state and local candidates are subject to state law. FEC
• Party committees raise federal funds, used in federal elections, and nonfederal funds, used in nonfederal elections, and keep them in separate accounts. FEC
• Some states’ campaign laws let nonfederal political groups accept money that federal limits and bans would not allow. FEC
• The federal contractor ban doesn’t apply to state or local elections. FEC

Other Rules for Donors

• Each spouse has a separate limit, even if only one spouse has income. 11 CFR 110.1(i)
• Someone under 18 may contribute, within the limits, if the choice is the minor’s own and the money belongs to the minor, not a gift made for the purpose. FEC
• A campaign can’t accept more than $100 in cash from one source. FEC
• Goods and services given to a campaign count toward the limit at their usual and normal charge, the same as money. FEC
• A candidate’s own money, given or lent to the campaign, has no limit. FEC
• A gift to a PAC or party counts toward the donor’s limit for a candidate if the donor knows a substantial portion will go to, or be spent for, that candidate. FEC
• A partnership’s contribution to a candidate must stay within the limits, and it also counts, in proportion, against each participating partner’s own limit for that candidate. FEC
• A gift from an LLC with one individual owner that isn’t taxed as a corporation counts only as that owner’s own gift. 11 CFR 110.1(g)(4)

Where to Ask

• The FEC answers general questions toll free at 1-800-424-9530, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. FEC

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