The federal definition of an "unitemized" contribution is $200 or less.
There are loopholes candidates can exploit.
For example, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported 57 percent of his 2018 re-election campaign's contributions stemmed from donations of $250 or less.
Those contributions, however, comprise one percent of the reporting period's $6 million total.
One individual (a Cuomo campaign staffer's roommate) donated 69 times--almost all in one-dollar increments.
"In order for the 'grassroots fundraising' metric to be meaningful, the DNC must focus on the amount of small-donor money rather than the number of small-donor contributions raised, and even setting the bar as low as 15 or 20 percent of their total cash raised could force candidates to focus on small dollars."
Although not a panacea, the fact the DNC is responding to the progressive base's call for campaign finance reform is a positive step.
More voters will have the chance to speak with their wallets as well as their votes. This will hopefully reverse the trend of political candidates marginalizing constituents unable to match wealthy donors' contributions.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
