$46,800 National Party Committee Limit for Senate Candidates
With respect to their contributions to Senate can- didates, the national committees of the Republican and Democratic parties each share a $46,800 limit with their party’s national senatorial campaign com- mittee. Unlike other candidate contribution limits, this one applies to the total contributions made
to a Senate candidate by those party committees for the entire campaign period (the primary and general elections). 110.2(e).This limit is indexed for in ation in odd-numbered years.
$100 Limit on Cash Contributions
A campaign may not accept more than $100 in
cash from a particular source with respect to any campaign for nomination for election, or election to federal of ce. 110.4(c).
$50 Limit on Anonymous Contributions
An anonymous contribution of cash is limited to $50.Any amount in excess of $50 must be promptly disposed of and may be used for any lawful purpose unrelated to any federal election, campaign or can- didate. 110.4(c)(3).
Contributions from Other Candidates
A candidate’s authorized committees may accept a contribution of up to $2,000 per election from the authorized committee of another federal candidate. 102.12(c)(2) and 102.13(c)(2).
In addition, principal campaign committees of ac- tive candidates cannot qualify as multicandidate committees. 102.12(c) and 102.13(c).The principal campaign committee of a former candidate may, however, become a multicandidate committee.AOs 1993-22, 1988-41 and 1985-30.
The applicable contribution limit for contributions from a nonfederal campaign is $2,700 per election. 110.1. However, a contribution of more than $1,000 may trigger registration by the nonfederal campaign as a federal political committee. 100.5(a). For more information and other applicable restrictions (such as the requirement that the funds given be federally permissible), see “Contributions from Unregistered Organizations” in Chapter 10, Section 1.
A liated Committees—Shared Limit
Political committees established, nanced, main- tained or controlled by the same person, organiza- tion or group are af liated. 110.3(a) and (b).This de nition applies to all types of political commit- tees, including nonconnected committees, party committees, corporate/labor PACs and
authorized committees.This is important because af liated committees that make contributions to candidate committees share one overall contribu- tion limit, per candidate, per election. See 110.3(a).
Party Committees
Although a state party committee operates under its own contribution limit, local party committees within a state are presumed to be af liated with the state party committee.2 This means that contribu- tions from those local party committees that are required to register as federal political committees count against the state committee’s limit. 110.3(b) (1)(ii) and (3). See AOs 2005-02 and 1999-04.
Note, however, that the national party committee, the House campaign committee and the Senate campaign committee are each considered a sepa- rate committee, with separate contribution limits (except for the special national party committee limit of $46,800 for Senate candidates, as explained above). 110.2(e) and 110.3(b)(2).
Unregistered Local Party Organizations
Local party organizations that do not have to register with the FEC may contribute an aggregate of $1,000 to federal candidates (assuming no other federal expenditures are made) without triggering a reporting requirement with the FEC. 100.5(a).The organization must be able to show that the contri- bution was made with funds permissible under the Federal Election Campaign Act. 102.5. Prior to cross- ing the registration threshold, the local organization does not share a contribution limit with the state party committee.AOs 2005-02 and 1999-04.
2 A local party committee may be considered independent of the state party committee if it can meet certain standards
as determined by the FEC through its Advisory Opinion process. See 110.3(b)(3)(i) and (ii). See also AOs 1999-04 and 1978-09.