Campaign Funds for Childcare Spending in States Lacking an Explicit Authorization

Vote Mama Foundation tracks the approval status of Campaign Funds for Childcare (CFCC) in all 50 states and the nation’s capital. Additionally, we access state and federal campaign finance data to determine how much campaign money was spent on childcare expenses across the country in local, state, and federal elections, and collect demographic information for each candidate who uses CFCC. We released our latest iteration of this research in May of 2026, focusing on state and local spending from 2018 to 2025.

At the time of data collection for this project in early 2026, only 10 states lacked an explicit CFCC authorization: Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, and Wyoming. Of these 10 states, only five had accessible and searchable campaign finance databases, and, of the five where we were able to perform a search, we found evidence of usage in three states – Florida, Missouri, and South Carolina. In total, close to $5,000 was spent in these states by Democrats, Republicans, moms, dads, state candidates, and local candidates. This spending demonstrates a need for Campaign Funds for Childcare regardless of party affiliation, gender, or office level.

Florida

From 1996 to 2012, six Republican state legislative candidates spent $1,978 on childcare expenses using their privately raised campaign dollars. Because of how Florida’s campaign finance search works, we searched expenditures from all time using our keywords (e.g. “childcare,” “daycare”), which returned results from before our research timeframe of 2018-2025. This is not a common occurrence, and more research is needed to determine if other states have usage prior to 2018. 

Since 2023, seven bills to authorize CFCC have been introduced in the Florida State Legislature. Most of these bills had bipartisan co-sponsorship, but none made it over the finish line.

Missouri

$2,240 was spent by one Democratic state legislative candidate between 2022 and 2024. 

On July 13, 2026, Governor Mike Kehoe signed HB 1871 into law, making Missouri the 41st state to formally authorize Campaign Funds for Childcare. This authorization, passed with bipartisan support, now makes explicit for state and local candidates and officeholders the option to use their campaign funds for childcare expenses, opening the door for more parents to run and serve in Missouri.

South Carolina

$560 was spent on childcare expenses by three candidates: one Republican state legislative candidate and two local candidates running in nonpartisan races. Two of these candidates have used CFCC within the past year, underscoring the need for a formal authorization.

In 2024, a bill was introduced with bipartisan co-sponsorship that would have codified CFCC into statute for candidates and officeholders. This bill passed its originating chamber before ultimately dying in committee in the Senate.

Conclusion

Without explicit authorization (i.e. written into state statute for candidates to easily reference), the legality of using campaign funds for childcare expenses is left open to interpretation. Given some states’ vague campaign finance laws, candidates have elected to seek advisory opinions from their Secretary of State, Attorney General, or Ethics Commission to obtain official guidance on the statute’s interpretation. This allows candidates to spend campaign funds on childcare expenses without fear of misunderstanding campaign finance rules within their state. 

If Florida and South Carolina do indeed consider CFCC a legal campaign finance expense, then they should codify the allowance into statute to signal to other parents that CFCC is a normal, allowable expense.