Campaign finance basics for local candidates

In most states the first legal act of a campaign is a filing, and it comes before the first contribution. In Texas, a candidate must file a campaign treasurer appointment (Form CTA) with the proper filing authority before accepting any contribution or making any expenditure, including an expenditure from personal funds; the Texas Ethics Commission's guide for candidates who file locally notes that even the filing fee to get on the ballot counts as a campaign expenditure that may not be made before the appointment is on file. Local candidates file with the city secretary, school district, or county clerk, not with the state.

California's structure is different but the sequence is the same. Under the Political Reform Act, a candidate who raises $2,000 or more from others in a calendar year becomes a recipient committee and must file a Statement of Organization (Form 410) with the Secretary of State within 10 days of crossing that threshold, with a $50 fee, per the Fair Political Practices Commission's Form 410 manual. The FPPC's Manual 2 for local candidates states that every committee must have a treasurer before it may accept contributions or make expenditures.

Find your filing authority on day one. It is the office that receives your reports, answers your questions, and assesses your late fees. For a city race it is usually the city clerk or secretary; for a school board, the district; for a county office, the county clerk or elections office.

Campaign money lives in its own account. California requires a candidate who expects to raise from others or spend $2,000 or more of personal funds to open a campaign bank account, and it allows only one account per office per election; all contributions go in and all expenditures come out of that account, and personal funds the candidate wants to spend must be deposited there first, with narrow exceptions such as the filing fee. Texas requires that political contributions be kept in a separate account, and the Ethics Commission's local guide lists reimbursement rules for expenditures a candidate makes from personal funds.

Open the account in the committee's name, using the committee's tax ID rather than your Social Security number, and give the treasurer signing authority. Get a debit card only if your state permits card expenditures and you are disciplined about receipts; a credit card charged to the account is reported as an expenditure to the vendor, not to the card company, in most states.

The treasurer is legally responsible for the accuracy of your reports, and in most states can be fined personally for errors. California's manual says the treasurer must use reasonable diligence in preparing and reviewing every statement they sign and certify under penalty of perjury; both candidate and treasurer may be fined if reporting and recordkeeping requirements are not met. The practical duties are deposits, expenditure approvals, contributor records, and filing on time.

Pick someone who is organized and available in the last two weeks before an election, when the pre-election report is due and the campaign is busiest. A spouse can serve in many states, but a spouse cannot give you independent pushback. A retired bookkeeper who believes in you is the classic choice for a local race. Whoever it is, they need read access to the bank account and a calendar with every deadline on it.

• Deposit every contribution within your state's deadline and record the contributor's name, address, date, and amount before the check leaves your hand.
• Approve expenditures before they happen; a volunteer buying yard signs on a personal card creates an in-kind contribution that has to be reported.
• Reconcile the bank statement to the ledger monthly and before every report.
• File every report on time, including reports that show no activity.

Anything of value given to influence an election is a contribution, not just checks. The Texas guide spells out the common cases: goods or services donated to the campaign are in-kind contributions, office space provided to a candidate is in-kind, an item donated for a fundraising auction is in-kind and the purchase of that item is a second contribution, a promise to give money is a contribution once accepted, and a loan is a contribution unless it comes from an incorporated financial institution that has been in business more than a year. Loans that are not contributions still have to be reported.

Personal funds are a contribution from you to your own campaign in most states, reported as such and, in a few states, subject to their own rules. Volunteer labor is generally exempt when the volunteer is not paid by anyone for it, but a professional who donates their normal service, a graphic designer laying out your mailer for free, is usually making an in-kind contribution at fair market value.

Sources are restricted in many states. Texas prohibits corporate and union contributions to candidates outright, according to NCSL's 2025-2026 contribution limits table. Many states cap or ban cash contributions above a small amount and ban anonymous contributions above a threshold. Foreign nationals may not contribute to any U.S. election, local ones included.

• Monetary: checks, cards, online donations, cash (often capped).
• In-kind: donated goods, services, space, and professional work at fair market value.
• Loans: from anyone but a bank, treated as contributions; all loans reported.
• Personal funds: reported; deposited into the campaign account first in California.
• Pledges: reportable once accepted in Texas, even before the money arrives.

Every report you file must be reconstructable from records. California requires committees to keep all records, including original source documents such as bank statements and copies of filed statements, for four years from the date the related statement was filed. For each contribution or loan of $25 or more the treasurer must record the date, amount, and the contributor's full name and street address, plus the cumulative amount from that contributor in the calendar year; for contributions of $100 or more, the contributor's occupation and employer must also be recorded. Copies of mass mailings, samples of mass emails, and scripts of political calls must be kept for the same four years.

Texas requires filers to keep the records used to prepare a report for two years after the report's deadline. Whatever the minimum, keep everything for the longer of your state's rule or the statute of limitations on complaints, because a complaint filed by an opponent two years after the election is decided on paper.

• A contribution ledger with contributor name, address, date, amount, occupation and employer where required, and running cumulative totals.
• An expenditure ledger with payee, date, amount, purpose, and the receipt or invoice.
• Bank statements, deposit slips, and cancelled checks.
• A copy of every mailer, sign design, script, and digital ad, with the date and quantity.
• Copies of every report you filed and the confirmation that it was received.

Reports come on a calendar of regular and pre-election filings. Texas candidates file semiannual reports by January 15 and July 15 every year, even when there is nothing to report, and opposed candidates also file reports 30 days and 8 days before each election they appear in; those pre-election reports must be received by the filing authority by the due date. A Texas candidate who does not expect to exceed $1,140 in contributions or $1,140 in expenditures for an election may choose modified reporting and skip the pre-election reports, but crossing either threshold after the 30th day before the election triggers a report within 48 hours, weekends and holidays included.

California local candidates file semiannual statements and pre-election statements on a schedule the FPPC publishes for each election, with additional 24-hour reports for large late contributions. Most other states follow a similar pattern: a periodic report, one or two pre-election reports, a post-election report, and a late-contribution rule that forces disclosure of big money in the final days. Put every date on the treasurer's calendar the week you register.

Contribution limits are the clearest example of how much states vary. NCSL's table for the 2025-2026 cycle lists individual-to-candidate limits ranging from unlimited in states such as Texas, Oregon, Utah, and Alabama to $1,000 per election for a Florida legislative candidate and $1,200 per contest for a Washington legislative candidate. California sets a default of $5,900 per election for city and county candidates, but California cities and counties may adopt their own limits, and many have. Cities such as Portland, Seattle, Austin, and Los Angeles run local systems with their own limits, disclosure, and in some cases public financing.

For contrast, federal candidates operate under one national code: an individual may give a House or Senate candidate $3,500 per election in the 2025-2026 cycle, per the FEC, and every federal committee files with one agency on one schedule. None of that applies to you. The state guide for your state names the agency, the local filing authority, the limits that apply to local candidates, and the reporting schedule.

Nearly every state requires political advertising to say who paid for it. Texas requires a disclosure statement containing the words political advertising or a recognizable abbreviation such as pol. adv., plus the full name of the person who paid for it, the committee that authorized it, or the candidate, according to the Ethics Commission's Political Advertising: What You Need to Know. California requires Paid for by followed by the committee's name on mass mailings, paid phone calls, radio and TV, billboards, yard signs, and electronic media ads, with separate rules for online platform ads, per the FPPC's advertising page. Florida extends the requirement to political telephone calls and text messages, which must carry Paid for by and the sponsor's name or, for texts, a link to that disclosure, under Florida Statute 106.147.

The rules differ on exactly which materials are covered, how large the text must be, and whether a candidate's own website or a small item like a pen is exempt. When in doubt, include the statement. The Texas guide's own advice is to use the disclosure whenever you think it might be necessary. Federal candidates use Paid for by plus the committee name and, on broadcast ads, a spoken approval statement, per the FEC; that format is familiar to voters and satisfies most state rules when your state's required words are added.

Most enforcement actions against local candidates are about process, not corruption. Late reports are the most common by far, followed by missing contributor information (occupation and employer, or a street address), accepting a contribution before the committee existed, and running a mailer or sign without the disclaimer. Each of those is easy to avoid and each carries a fine, in some states a fine per day.

The second tier is money handling: paying campaign expenses from a personal account and reimbursing yourself without recording the loan, accepting a corporate check in a state that prohibits it, taking cash above the limit, or using campaign funds for something personal. The third tier is coordination, spending in support of another candidate or accepting help from an outside group in a way your state treats as a contribution. If you are running on a slate, ask your filing authority how shared expenses must be split and reported before you print the first joint sign.

• Filing late, or not filing a no-activity report.
• Missing occupation and employer on contributions above the state's threshold.
• Accepting a contribution or spending money before the treasurer appointment or committee registration was on file.
• Advertising without the required disclosure statement.
• Unreported in-kind contributions, especially donated professional services and supporter-purchased supplies.
• Corporate, union, cash, or anonymous contributions where prohibited.
• Personal use of campaign funds.

A council race that will raise under $10,000 with fifty contributors can be run by a careful treasurer with the state's guide open on the desk. Hire a compliance professional, a campaign treasurer service or an election-law attorney, when any of the following is true: you expect to raise more than your state's threshold for itemized reporting many times over, you are in a city with its own ordinance on top of state law, you are accepting money from PACs or out-of-state committees with their own documentation rules, you are on a slate that shares expenses, or you have already received a notice from your filing authority.

The cost is usually a few hundred dollars a month for a local race, and it buys you a clean record and someone else's name next to yours on the report. The Texas guide, for example, requires extra documentation before accepting more than $1,140 in a reporting period from an out-of-state political committee; a professional knows that rule exists before the check arrives. The rest of running a local campaign is covered in how local elections work and should you run for local office.

1. 1.Texas Ethics Commission, Campaign Finance Guide for Candidates and Officeholders Who File with Local Filing Authorities (revised 2026-01-01)
2. 2.Texas Ethics Commission, Form CTA instruction guide (appointment of a campaign treasurer by a candidate)
3. 3.Texas Ethics Commission, Political Advertising: What You Need to Know (disclosure statement)
4. 4.California FPPC, Campaign Disclosure Manual 2, Chapter 3: Finances and Recordkeeping (August 2023)
5. 5.California FPPC, Manual 4, Chapter 2: Statement of Organization (Form 410)
6. 6.California FPPC, campaign disclosure manuals index
7. 7.California FPPC, campaign advertising requirements and restrictions (Paid for by disclaimers)
8. 8.NCSL, State Limits on Contributions to Candidates, 2025-2026 election cycle (dated 2025-08-20)
9. 9.NCSL, State Limits on Contributions to Candidates (overview page)
10. 10.Florida Statute 106.147, telephone solicitation and text message disclosure for political communications
11. 11.Federal Election Commission, contribution limits for 2025-2026 (federal contrast only)
12. 12.Federal Election Commission, advertising and disclaimers (federal contrast only)