Campaign Funds for Security
Vote Mama Foundation is working to break down the barriers that prevent parents and caregivers from running for office.
Harassment, threats, and attempts at violence against candidates, especially women and parents, have steadily increased across all levels of government. For candidates with young children, these dangers extend beyond personal risk and threaten the safety of their families, often pushing them out of public life altogether.
Problem
Running for office and representing your community should never jeopardize a candidate’s or their family’s safety.
Yet women, particularly moms with minor children, are disproportionately targeted with harassment, threats, and abuse while campaigning and governing. These acts of violence drive parents, especially women and women of color, out of politics, stripping our democracy of the perspectives we urgently need at the decision-making table.
In January of 2024, the Brennan Center for Justice published “Intimidation of State and Local Officeholders,” a groundbreaking report detailing this crisis and the violence experienced by state and local candidates nationwide. Their report found:
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Women were 3-4x more likely than men to experience abuse targeting their gender.
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Officeholders of color were 3x more likely than their white counterparts to face race-based abuse.
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Women and people of color serving in local elected offices experienced more abuse related to their children and families.
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Women serving in state legislatures were nearly 4x more likely than men to experience abuse of a sexual nature.
Solution
We need more parents in office – to achieve that, we must provide the tools and protection they need to run and serve safely. No parent should ever have to worry about their family's safety while on the campaign trail.
Campaign Funds for Security (CFS) is a common-sense solution that empowers candidates to use campaign funds to cover security expenses at no cost to tax-payers.
Federal candidates have been able to use their campaign funds on security expenses on a case-by-case basis dating back to 2009. To streamline candidate requests and ensure candidates can tap into their campaign funds to pay for immediate security needs, the Federal Election Commission issued a final rule in 2024 affirming that all federal candidates and officeholders may use campaign funds for security expenses as long as those expenses address threats directly linked to their candidacy or role in public office.
Permissible security expenses include:
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Non-structural security devices: such as hardware, locks, alarm systems, motion detectors, and security camera systems
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Structural security devices: such as wiring, lighting, gates, doors, and fencing, as long as they are intended solely to provide security and not to improve the property or increase its value
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Professional security personnel
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Cybersecurity software, devices, and services
Some states have expanded protections by limiting the release of personal information.
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In Georgia, a 2025 law prohibits publishing candidates’ home addresses.
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In New Jersey, a 2022 law protects the addresses of legislators, spouses, and minor children.
Vote Mama Foundation, a non-partisan 501(c)(3), is the only organization tracking the usage of Campaign Funds for Security (CFS) at the federal and state levels.
You can submit an Advisory Opinion request to find out if candidates in your state can use their campaign funds on security expenses directly related to campaign activities and/or carrying out official duties.
Use this template request letter and send it to your state’s governing body on campaign finance rules and regulations; this is often a state ethics commission, the Secretary of State’s office, or the Attorney General’s office.