By Celina Avalos Jaramillo*
May 31, 2024, 16:29 PM EDT
At the beginning of May, a historic event occurred for democracy in New York, when, for the first time, small donations made by the population of the state to the candidates of their choice were multiplied with public funds, under the innovative financing program of political campaigns in this state.
By multiplying the value of these small donations, the new system begins to balance the power of money, shifting it from large donations to small contributions from the electorate, and paves the way for a government that truly represents the people it serves.
For Latino communities, this could be a transformative political instrument, because it could encourage more Latinos to run for office and thus mitigate their underrepresentation in government.
Donating to a political campaign is one of the main ways we can participate in our democracy and make our voices heard. But Latino communities are one of the least represented groups in political donations, in New York and across the country.
Instead, New York politics has long been dominated by wealthy donors who do not represent the diversity and needs of many of the state’s communities. Your donations allow them to influence who wins elections and what priorities are included on the political agenda (i.e. yours). Meanwhile, the voices of the majority of New York’s population are not heard.
Public financing of political campaigns is a valuable tool to resolve this imbalance. New York’s small donations program gives voters who cannot donate large sums a greater opportunity to make their voices heard in the political process by amplifying the value of their small contributions ranging from $5 to $250. For legislative candidacies, the program includes a progressive, scalable multiplication of contributions from donors who live in the same legislative district as the candidate to whom they donate.
The multiplication scale gives the highest multiplier to the smallest contributions, on a sliding scale of $12 per $1 donated for the first $50, $9 per $1 donated for the next $100, and $8 per $1 donated for the last $100 . This means that, for example, a $10 donation to a legislative candidate can be multiplied by 12 to reach a contribution of $120 of public funds; so the initial $10 is now worth $130. For state candidates, for example, for governor or state attorney general, the multiplication is by 6.
By multiplying only small contributions, this state program promises to significantly increase the importance of ordinary New Yorkers in state political campaigns. If this voluntary program had been available for the 2022 elections, small donations would have reached nearly 70 percent of all funds donated to political campaigns, instead of just 11 percent.
Public financing of small donations gives candidates a strong incentive to win the votes of many people, not just a few wealthy donors. They can raise funds the same way they campaign: by spending time getting to know the people they represent and hearing about the issues that matter to them, such as child care, housing, education and employment.
Public funding could also open the door for more Latinos to run for office. Running a political campaign is expensive, especially for candidates who cannot access networks of wealthy donors or large personal bank accounts. Surely, this is one of the reasons why New York’s 3.6 million Latinos don’t have the representation they deserve in government: They make up approximately 18 percent of the state’s population, but they occupy only 11 percent. of state legislative seats.
With public financing, those who want to run in state elections but could not afford the costs now have a better opportunity to finance competitive political campaigns.
Experience elsewhere has shown that small donation multiplication systems can help reduce racial and gender inequalities in political candidates. In 2021, public funding helped make New York City government more reflective of the people it serves. The city elected the most demographically representative council in its history. Women doubled their representation and now hold 61 percent of council seats, and non-whites also increased their representation from 51 to 67 percent.
In other states, the Seattle program allowed new and more diverse donors to enter the political process. Publicly funded programs in Washington, DC, and Montgomery County, Maryland, achieved similar results in increasing diversity in elected officials.
More than 300 candidates chose to participate in the New York program. They come from across the political spectrum, from districts in the north and south of the state, and include candidates already in office and seeking re-election, as well as challengers.
Additionally, this program has broad support from elected leaders. In April, Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York Legislature included approximately $114.5 million in public financing funds in the 2025 budget, ensuring a strong start for the program.
New York’s Latino population is growing rapidly and the same is true across the country. But, for Latino political power to match this growth, the Latino community must have a greater voice in electoral politics. Public funding of small donations can pave the way.
Celina Ávalos Jaramillo is an Advocacy Campaign Strategist at the Brennan Center.