What Is the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act?

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, often called BCRA or McCain-Feingold, is the federal statute that overhauled how money moves through American elections. Signed by President George W. Bush on March 27, 2002, it was the most significant rewrite of federal campaign finance rules since the original framework was set up in 1971.¹ Congress passed it to address two specific problems: national political parties raising unlimited “soft money” outside the normal contribution caps, and a wave of last-minute broadcast ads about federal candidates that hid who was paying for them. Several Supreme Court decisions have since cut down parts of the law, but its central machinery — soft money restrictions, contribution limits, disclosure, and disclaimers — still governs federal campaigns.

The Soft Money Ban

Before BCRA, national party committees could accept donations of any size as long as the money was labeled for generic “party-building” activities rather than a specific candidate. In practice, those donations often benefited candidates anyway. BCRA closed that route. Under 52 U.S.C. § 30125, national party committees cannot solicit, receive, direct, or spend any funds that fall outside federal contribution limits and source prohibitions.² Every dollar a national party handles has to be “hard money” raised under the standard caps.

The ban also reaches state and local party committees when they run activities that affect federal races. Voter registration drives near a federal election, get-out-the-vote efforts, and public communications that mention a federal candidate all count as “federal election activity” and must be paid for with federally regulated funds. That prevents soft money from simply shifting down to the state and local level.²

BCRA left one narrow opening for state and local parties: “Levin funds.” A state or local committee can accept up to $10,000 per donor per year from sources otherwise barred federally, if state law allows those sources, and spend the money on certain federal election activities. National party committees and federal candidates cannot be involved in raising or directing those funds.³

Electioneering Communications

BCRA created a legal category called “electioneering communications” to capture political ads that stopped short of literally saying “vote for” or “vote against” a candidate but were plainly designed to influence an election. An electioneering communication is any broadcast, cable, or satellite message that refers to a clearly identified federal candidate and airs within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary. For congressional races, the ad must also be capable of reaching at least 50,000 people in the candidate’s district or state.⁴ News coverage, candidate debates, and ads that already qualify as independent expenditures are excluded.

Anyone who spends more than $10,000 in a calendar year on electioneering communications must file a report with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours, and another report each time spending crosses an additional $10,000 threshold. The filing identifies the payer, the amount, the candidates named, and contributors of $1,000 or more to the account or entity behind the spending.⁵

As originally written, the electioneering communication rules cover only broadcast, cable, and satellite transmissions. Internet content was not included. In 2024, the FEC expanded the broader definition of “public communication” to reach paid digital advertising and content boosted for a fee on websites, apps, and social media. Unpaid activity on a person’s own social media page remains outside the rules even if they spent money on staff or design to produce it.

Contribution Limits

BCRA doubled the amount an individual could give directly to a federal candidate, raising the per-election cap from $1,000 to $2,000, and built in automatic inflation adjustments each two-year cycle based on Department of Labor price data.⁶ For the 2025–2026 cycle, the current limits for an individual donor are:

$3,500 per election to a candidate committee (primary and general count separately)
$44,300 per year to a national party committee
$10,000 per year, combined, to state, district, or local party committees
$5,000 per year to a PAC (connected or nonconnected)
$132,900 per account, per year, to the additional national party committee accounts

Some of those limits adjust for inflation in odd-numbered years; others are fixed by statute.⁷ Multicandidate PACs, which must be registered at least six months and have more than 50 contributors, follow their own schedule and may give up to $5,000 per election to a candidate.⁸ Campaigns cannot accept more than $100 in cash from a single source for any election, and anonymous cash contributions are capped at $50.

The “Stand by Your Ad” Disclaimer

BCRA is the reason candidates end their television spots by saying they approved the message. Under 52 U.S.C. § 30120, any radio ad paid for or authorized by a candidate must include an audio statement in which the candidate identifies themselves and states approval. Television ads carry the same requirement, plus the candidate must appear on screen or in a voice-over with a clearly identifiable photo, and the written approval statement must remain visible for at least four seconds.⁹

Ads not authorized by a candidate follow a different rule. They must clearly identify who paid for them, including a street address, phone number, or website, and state that no candidate or candidate’s committee authorized the message. On radio and TV, that identification has to be spoken aloud.⁹ All disclaimers must be “clear and conspicuous,” not buried in tiny print or rushed past too quickly to read.¹⁰

Foreign National Contribution Ban

BCRA tightened the prohibition on foreign money in U.S. elections. Under 52 U.S.C. § 30121, foreign nationals cannot contribute to, donate to, or spend money in connection with any federal, state, or local election. The ban covers direct contributions to candidates and parties, independent expenditures, and disbursements for electioneering communications. Soliciting or accepting such money is equally illegal. The category includes foreign governments and organizations as defined under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, plus individuals who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents. Green card holders are not treated as foreign nationals under this section.¹¹

What the Supreme Court Has Changed

Federal courts have redrawn BCRA’s boundaries several times. Some of the law’s most ambitious pieces did not survive; its structural framework has.

McConnell v. FEC (2003)

The first major challenge came almost immediately. The Court upheld BCRA’s two headline features, the soft money ban and the electioneering communications rules, finding that Congress had adequate interest in preventing corruption and its appearance.¹²

Davis v. FEC (2008)

BCRA’s “Millionaire’s Amendment” raised contribution limits for candidates facing self-funded opponents who spent more than $350,000 of their own money. A 5-4 Court struck it down, holding that imposing different limits on candidates in the same race unconstitutionally burdened the self-funding candidate’s right to spend personal money on political speech.¹³

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

The 2010 decision transformed the landscape. Citizens United struck down the longstanding ban on corporations and unions spending their own treasury funds on independent political expenditures and electioneering communications, overruling Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce and the part of McConnell that had upheld the corporate spending ban. The majority held that the First Amendment does not permit Congress to restrict political speech based on the speaker’s corporate identity.¹⁴ Disclosure and disclaimer requirements for those ads survived intact.¹⁵

SpeechNow.org v. FEC (2010)

Two months later, the D.C. Circuit extended that logic to individual contributions. If independent expenditures cannot corrupt, the court reasoned, then contributions to groups that make only independent expenditures cannot corrupt either. Contribution limits on those groups fell. Citizens United and SpeechNow together produced “super PACs,” which may raise unlimited money from individuals, corporations, and unions and spend unlimited amounts on independent ads. Super PACs still must register with the FEC and file reports, and they cannot contribute directly to candidates or coordinate with campaigns.¹⁶

FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate (2022)

BCRA’s Section 304 had prohibited campaigns from using more than $250,000 in post-election contributions to repay personal loans a candidate made to the campaign. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court held that the cap unconstitutionally burdened political speech by deterring candidates from lending money to their own campaigns in the first place.¹⁷

What Still Applies Today

More than two decades of litigation later, BCRA’s central architecture is largely intact. The soft money ban on national parties has never been overturned. Contribution limits on individuals and PACs still apply and still adjust for inflation. Every disclosure and reporting rule survived Citizens United, and the advertising disclaimer requirements remain binding. The foreign national ban is fully in effect.¹⁸ What fell were the restrictions on independent spending by corporations, unions, and wealthy individuals, along with the Millionaire’s Amendment and the post-election loan repayment cap. The system BCRA left behind is one where direct giving to candidates and parties stays tightly regulated, while outside spending faces almost no limits as long as it stays formally independent of the campaign.

1
Congress.gov. H.R.2356 – Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 30125 – Soft Money of Political Parties
3
Federal Election Commission. Donations of Levin Funds to State and Local Party Committees
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 30104 – Reporting Requirements
5
Federal Election Commission. Electioneering Communications
6
Federal Election Commission. FEC Announces 2023-2024 Campaign Cycle Contribution Limits
7
Federal Election Commission. Contribution Limits
8
Federal Election Commission. Contribution Limits for 2025-2026
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 30120 – Publication and Distribution of Statements and Solicitations
10
Federal Election Commission. Advertising and Disclaimers
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 30121 – Contributions and Donations by Foreign Nationals
12
Federal Election Commission. McConnell v. FEC
13
Federal Election Commission. Davis v. FEC
14
Federal Election Commission. Citizens United v. FEC
15
Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
16
Federal Election Commission. SpeechNow.org v. FEC
17
Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Federal Election Commission v. Cruz
18
Congress.gov. The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)