Candidates, Campaigns, and . . . Child Care?

Ever since Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential elections, women have become a mobilized political force like never before. Beginning with the Women’s March on Washington in January 2017, women have organized rallies and protests, campaigned for pro-woman candidates, and turned out to vote like never before. Perhaps even more importantly, record numbers have decided to run for office themselves: in fact, from 2016 to 2018, the number of women running for Congress doubled.

This movement of women into the political spotlight–known as the “Pink Wave”–has brought with it a unique set of challenges as the government has had to re-examine ways that it traditionally makes it more difficult for women to hold public office. (Earlier this year, for example, Senator Tammy Duckworth had to wait until Congress changed a law in order to be able to bring her newborn daughter with her into Senate chambers.) Here, Election Central takes a closer look at one struggle many female candidates face: between campaigns and child care.

What’s The Problem?

When you run for office, you receive campaign donations which can only be used for certain approved campaign expenses. (For example, if you use campaign donations to buy yourself a fancy new car, you would likely be in violation of federal campaign finance law.) Recently, several states have had to rule on whether or not candidates can use their campaign donations to pay for childcare.

According to the letter of the law, candidates have always been forbidden from using campaign funds for childcare or other personal expenses. But with so many women running for office, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) ruled in May that it’s now permissible to do so, but only under certain circumstances. (It’s important to note here that these rules apply equally to male and female candidates. But in the United States, where the number of women who are primary caregivers is still vastly larger than the number of men, it’s an issue that disproportionately affects female candidates.)

What Do the New Rules Say?

While women are cheering the FEC’s ruling as a long-overdue victory, nevertheless, it’s still not a clear-cut solution to the problem. Federal election law is complicated, and there are many stipulations, exceptions, and rules to consider. Basically, if a candidate has always used a childcare provider for her children before she ran for office, she can’t now claim that as a campaign expense. But if running for a campaign has caused her to need to hire childcare, then it’s acceptable to use campaign donations to pay for it.

Also, individual states each have their own Ethics Commissions, which don’t always line up with each other. Alabama, for example, just ruled that a female candidate can pay for childcare with campaign donations, as long as she can tie the expenses to a particular campaign event. The Iowa Ethics Commission, on the other hand, recently denied a similar claim, since Iowa’s state code specifically says that campaign money can’t be used for personal expenses. So, although the FEC ruling is a step in the right direction, there’s still much work to be done to level the playing field for female candidates.

What Do You Think? In your opinion, should candidates (both female and male) be allowed to use campaign donations to cover the cost of childcare? Why or why not?