The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, better known as the McCain-Feingold Act, rewrote federal campaign finance law by banning unlimited “soft money” donations to national political parties, regulating election-season broadcast ads, and raising the limits on what individuals could give directly to candidates.1Congress.gov. Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 Sponsored by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold, it amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. Several of its provisions have since been struck down by the Supreme Court, but the soft money ban, individual contribution limits, disclosure requirements, and ad disclaimer rules remain enforceable today.
The Soft Money Ban on National Parties
Before 2002, national parties routinely accepted six- and seven-figure checks that fell outside federal contribution limits and source restrictions. The money then found its way into activities that influenced federal races. McCain-Feingold shut that off. National party committees may no longer raise, receive, direct, or spend any funds that are not subject to federal limits and disclosure rules.2Federal Election Commission. McConnell v. FEC This provision is fully intact.
The ban reaches state and local party committees too when they engage in what the FEC calls “federal election activity.” That category includes voter registration drives within 120 days of a federal election, get-out-the-vote work in races where a federal candidate is on the ballot, and public communications that promote or attack a clearly identified federal candidate.3Federal Election Commission. Definition of Federal Election Activity (FEA) State parties must pay for those activities with federally regulated money.
Individual Contribution Limits
To offset the loss of soft money, the law raised the hard-money limits that individuals could give to candidates and party committees, and it built in an automatic inflation adjustment every odd-numbered year.4Federal Election Commission. Contribution Limits for 2025-2026 The old $1,000-per-election cap had gone untouched since the 1970s and had lost most of its real value.
For the 2025–2026 election cycle, the indexed limits for individual donors are:
- $3,500 per election to a federal candidate. Primary and general count separately, so one donor may give up to $7,000 total to a single candidate across both.4Federal Election Commission. Contribution Limits for 2025-2026
- $44,300 per year to a national party committee.5Federal Election Commission. Candidate Contribution Limits
- $132,900 per year to each of a national party’s additional accounts, which cover presidential nominating conventions, election recounts, and party headquarters buildings.5Federal Election Commission. Candidate Contribution Limits
- $5,000 per year to a PAC. This limit is not indexed for inflation.
Exceeding these caps triggers enforcement. The FEC can order the receiving campaign to refund the excess or disgorge it to the U.S. Treasury.6Federal Election Commission. Disgorged Contributions The law also once imposed aggregate biennial limits on the total any one person could give to all federal candidates and committees combined, but the Supreme Court struck those down in 2014. Donors may now contribute to as many recipients as they choose, so long as each per-recipient cap is respected.
Electioneering Communications and Ad Disclaimers
McCain-Feingold created a legal category called “electioneering communications” for election-season advertising that used to slip through gaps in the law. An electioneering communication is any broadcast, cable, or satellite ad that clearly identifies a federal candidate, airs within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election, and can be received by at least 50,000 people in the candidate’s state or district.7eCFR. 11 CFR 100.29 – Electioneering Communication
The law originally barred corporations and unions from paying for these ads out of their general treasury funds. The Supreme Court struck that spending ban down in 2010, but the disclosure obligations survive. Any person or entity that spends more than $10,000 in a calendar year on electioneering communications must file a disclosure statement with the FEC within 24 hours of the first ad airing, and a new filing is due each time cumulative spending crosses another $10,000 threshold.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 30104 – Reporting Requirements9Federal Election Commission. Electioneering Communications
Stand By Your Ad
The law’s most visible legacy is the “Stand By Your Ad” requirement. A candidate running a TV ad must personally deliver an approval statement, either by appearing in an unobscured, full-screen shot or by providing a voice-over accompanied by a photograph that fills at least 80 percent of the screen height.10eCFR. 11 CFR 110.11 – Communications; Advertising; Disclaimers A written version of the approval must also appear on screen for at least four seconds with readable color contrast. Radio ads require the candidate to verbally state their name and that they approved the message.
When a PAC, party committee, or other outside group runs an ad without a candidate’s authorization, the disclaimer must include the group’s full name, a permanent street address, phone number, or website, and a statement that no candidate authorized the message.11Federal Election Commission. Advertising and Disclaimers These rules apply to broadcast, print, and paid online advertising. For digital ads where space is tight, the FEC allows a shortened disclaimer linking to the full information.12Federal Election Commission. Commission Adopts Final Rule on Internet Communications Disclaimers and Definition of Public Communication
Foreign National Contribution Ban
Federal law makes it illegal for any foreign national to contribute, donate, or spend money in connection with a federal, state, or local election, and McCain-Feingold strengthened that existing prohibition.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 30121 – Contributions and Donations by Foreign Nationals The ban covers direct contributions to candidates, donations to party committees, independent expenditures, and disbursements for electioneering communications. A “foreign national” includes any individual who is neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident, plus foreign governments, foreign political parties, and entities organized under foreign law.14Federal Election Commission. Foreign Nationals
The prohibition reaches domestic actors as well. Anyone who knowingly solicits, accepts, or receives a foreign national contribution violates the law, and foreign nationals cannot participate in the decision-making process behind any entity’s election-related spending, even when the entity itself is a U.S. company.
What the Supreme Court Struck Down
The law that exists in practice today looks different from what Congress passed in 2002. Three decisions gutted major parts of it.
Davis v. FEC (2008)
McCain-Feingold originally included a “Millionaire’s Amendment” that tripled the individual contribution limit for opponents of self-funded House candidates once the self-funder spent more than $350,000 of personal money. The Supreme Court struck it down, ruling that it unconstitutionally burdened self-financed candidates’ First Amendment rights by penalizing them for spending their own funds.15Federal Election Commission. Davis v. FEC
Citizens United v. FEC (2010)
This ruling reshaped the campaign finance landscape. The Court held that corporations and unions have a First Amendment right to make independent expenditures on political speech, overturning the McCain-Feingold ban on using treasury funds for electioneering communications.16Federal Election Commission. Citizens United v. FEC Disclosure requirements and the soft money ban were untouched.
Weeks later, the D.C. Circuit applied Citizens United in SpeechNow.org v. FEC, holding that contribution limits to groups making only independent expenditures violate the First Amendment. That decision gave rise to “super PACs,” which can raise unlimited sums from individuals, corporations, and unions so long as they do not coordinate with any candidate.17Federal Election Commission. SpeechNow.org v. FEC
McCutcheon v. FEC (2014)
The original law also capped the total amount one individual could contribute to all federal candidates and committees combined during a two-year election cycle. The Court struck those aggregate limits down. Individual donors may now give to as many candidates, party committees, and PACs as they wish, though the per-recipient limits still apply.18Federal Election Commission. McCutcheon, et al. v. FEC
Enforcement and Penalties
The FEC enforces the law through a complaint-driven process and an administrative fine program. Penalties escalate depending on whether a violation was accidental or deliberate.
For knowing and willful violations, the FEC can negotiate civil penalties of up to $10,000 or 200 percent of the amount involved, whichever is greater. Violations of the straw-donor prohibition, meaning contributing in someone else’s name, carry stiffer penalties: a minimum of 300 percent and a maximum of 1,000 percent of the amount involved, or $50,000, whichever is greater.19Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 30109 – Enforcement
Criminal prosecution is reserved for the most serious cases. Knowing and willful violations involving $25,000 or more in a calendar year carry up to five years in prison. Intentional violations involving $2,000 to $25,000 carry up to one year. For routine compliance failures such as filing a report late, the FEC’s Administrative Fine Program applies a preset formula, and committees that ignore a fine risk having their case transferred to the U.S. Treasury for collection, which adds a 30 percent surcharge.20Federal Election Commission. Administrative Fines
The Practical Result Today
Money flowing directly to candidates and parties is still tightly regulated. National parties cannot take soft money. Individual donors face per-recipient caps that adjust for inflation. Every broadcast and paid digital ad must carry a disclaimer. Anyone spending significantly on electioneering communications must disclose it to the FEC. Foreign nationals cannot contribute at all.
What the courts eliminated was the law’s attempt to restrict independent spending. Corporations, unions, and wealthy individuals can now spend without limit on ads that stay formally independent of a campaign, and super PACs can raise unlimited funds for the same purpose. The regulated core of McCain-Feingold governs the money that reaches candidates directly; the money that stays outside that channel operates with few restrictions beyond disclosure.