Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's policy would create a campaign contribution voucher program, allowing eligible voters to donate up to $100 in primary and general elections. 2020 elections Gillibrand proposes public campaign financing plan

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand jumped into the Democratic presidential policy race Wednesday with a “clean elections” plan that would provide a voter-driven public option for campaign financing.

The New York Democrat’s first policy rollout aims to reduce the influence of special-interest money in politics, an issue that’s grown in significance for Democratic primary voters — and one that Gillibrand argues is an essential step toward enacting other policy changes.


Under Gillibrand’s plan, eligible voters could opt into her “Democracy Dollars” program and register for vouchers, provided by the Federal Elections Commission, to donate up to $100 in a primary election and $100 in a general election each cycle. Each participant would get $200 for each type of federal contest: House, Senate and presidential elections.

But there would be limits on both donors and candidates in order to use the public voucher program. Voters could contribute only to candidates in their state — including House candidates outside their district but within their state. In order to accept the public money, candidates would have to restrict themselves to accepting only donations of $200 or less. Currently, the maximum individual donation candidates can take in per election is $2,800 ($5,600 for both a primary and a general).

“To get anything done in Washington, we have to address the money and greed that corrupts politicians and prevents progress on issues like gun violence prevention, lowering the cost of prescription drugs and addressing climate change,” Gillibrand said in a statement released with her proposal.

Gillibrand’s proposal would finance publicly funded campaigns by limiting a corporate deduction for executive compensation: “Those making 25 times the median salary of their employees or more than $1 million, whichever is less.”

Gillibrand’s policy plan, modeled on a program used in local elections in Seattle, tracks with the senator’s campaign theme of transparency. Gillibrand was the first 2020 candidate to release her 2018 tax returns, after posting her tax returns publicly since 2012. When she was first elected to Congress, she also became the first House member to post her meeting schedules, personal financial disclosures and earmarks requests online.

But Gillibrand isn’t alone in making campaign finance reform a litmus test for the Democratic primary. A majority of the contenders for the 2020 Democratic nomination have pledged to reject donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists, as well as rejecting help from individual super PACs, all moves aimed at highlighting their commitment to reforming campaign finance.