Tell Massachusetts to pass HD590/SD348 allowing candidates to use their Campaign Funds for Childcare.

We need working parents at the decision-making table, and approving Campaign Funds for Childcare is the first step to getting them there.

Because the cost of caring for a family should never be the reason a candidate can’t run for office.

Pass HD590/SD348.

There are many institutional barriers holding parents back from running for office, and the first is paying for childcare.

Campaigning as a working caregiver, especially as a mother with young children, is extraordinarily difficult. In many states, it costs more to send an infant to childcare than a mortgage payment. This is not an expense working families can take on - especially when campaigning.

By allowing candidates to use their Campaign Funds for Childcare (CFCC), we can remove a logistical and financial barrier, and make it easier for more working caregivers to run for office.

In 2018, the Federal Election Commission approved federal candidates' option to spend campaign funds on childcare through a unanimous, bipartisan vote.

However, the ruling does not apply to candidates running for state and local office.

It’s crucial that we empower a more diverse set of candidates to run and dismantle the systems that hold so many people back. That’s why Vote Mama Foundation works with Democratic and Republican legislators and candidates across the country to approve CFCC in all 50 states. CFCC not only removes the structural barriers that prevent full political participation, but also normalizes the image of working parents and caregivers running for office.

28 states have brought their state statutes in line with federal regulations. We hope Massachusetts will become the 29th with your support.

To empower a diverse pipeline of working parents to run for office – and win – candidates should no longer be forced to consider the cost of care in weighing their decision to run. By making this one simple structural change, we have the opportunity to transform Massachusetts' political landscape.

For these reasons, we urge the state of Massachusetts to codify the use of Campaign Funds for Childcare into law by passing HD590/SD348.