Greenfield Reporter (12/19): “Just under a third of the candidates for statewide and legislative offices ran with public funding this year, the Arizona Capitol Times (http://goo.gl/UhD02T) reported.
That’s the lowest percentage since the program’s first year when just over a quarter of the candidates in 2000 used public funding.”
“The 2014 level of candidates’ participation in the public system is in contrast to 2008, the program’s participation peak, when over 60 percent of candidates used public funding. Participation then dropped in 2010 and 2012.
“Only 16 percent of the winning candidates in 2014 ran with public campaign funding — again the lowest percentage since 2000, when 13 percent of successful candidates ran publicly funded campaigns.
“In contrast, most winners in 2008 ran with public funding.
“Campaign consultants said a big factor behind the decrease in candidates’ participation was a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that eliminated additional public funding to participating candidates being outspent by privately funded opponents.”
Democracy Reform 