Should the state help fund political campaigns if the candidate agrees to campaign spending limits?

Section 7 of Article VI of the Florida Constitution provides for public campaign financing for statewide candidates who agree to spending limits. This financing is available for candidates for governor, attorney general, chief financial officer and commissioner of agriculture. To qualify for public financing, a candidate:

• Must not be running unopposed;
• Must agree to expenditure limits;
• Must raise $150,000 if a gubernatorial candidate or $100,000 if a candidate for the cabinet;
• Limit loans or contributions from the candidate’s personal funds to $25,000 and contributions from political parties to $250,000; and,
• Report campaign financing data to the Division of Elections.

For campaign finance purposes, governor and lieutenant governor are considered one candidate.

The public campaign financing program is funded by the General Revenue Fund. In 2022 the expenditure limit for candidates for governor was $30.29 million ($2 per registered voter) and the limit for cabinet offices was $15.14 million ($1 per registered voter).

The candidates can receive public campaign financing in the form of matching funds.

The campaign financing provision was added to the Florida Constitution by Amendment 11 in 1998. In 2010, the Florida Legislature tried to appeal it with another amendment but fell short of the 60% vote required.

Florida is one of 12 states with public financing available for candidates running for governor. In the 2022 election, Ron DeSantis received $7.3 million in state matching funds for his campaign. Charlie Crist received $3.9 million in state matching funds.

In the 2018 election, DeSantis received $3.2 million in state matching funds; Andrew Gillum received $2.6 million.

This year, the Florida Legislature is again trying to appeal the 1998 amendment. Florida Amendment 6 would repeal public financing for statewide campaigns. The vote to add Amendment 6 to the 2024 General Election Ballot passed on party lines with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.

State Senator Travis Hutson (REP), who sponsored the amendment, stated: “I think it's absurd that anybody would be able to use taxpayer dollars for the purposes of campaigning. So those are dollars we could spend on things like education, things like healthcare, water projects, beach restoration, all of that stuff."

“Without access to public funds, only the wealthy and the well-connected would be able to afford to run,” argued Libby Livette of the League of Women Voters.