The New York State Capitol (photo: Mike Groll/Governor's Office)

Just a few weeks ago, lawmakers in Albany followed through on a commitment to place the state’s small donor public campaign financing program – which they enacted in 2020 – on a strong foundation heading into the 2024 elections. By including nearly $40 million for the program in this year’s state budget, the Legislature ensured that everyday voters, not just the wealthiest few, would have a chance to make their voices heard in our democracy.

But suddenly that commitment is in doubt, following reports that the Legislature is considering amendments that would seriously blunt the public financing program’s impact.

New York’s Public Campaign Finance Program is the nation’s boldest response to the corrupting influence of big money in politics. It provides a multiple match on donations from New York residents of $250 or less. With a six-to-one matching ratio for statewide races, a $10 donation gets a $60 match and is now worth $70 for the candidate. For legislative elections, in-district donations are matched on a sliding scale, with the smallest amounts matched at the highest ratio. The impact is obvious: small donations – and the constituents who make them – become more important to candidates.

But reports indicate that changes are afoot, and one proposal will gravely dilute this impact. That rumored change would permit the first $250 of any political contribution – up to the contribution limit for each office – to be eligible for public matching funds. That means a donation of $5,000 to a Senate candidate, say, would become worth $7,300. Amplifying such large contributions undercuts the program’s explicit purpose to make a government more accountable to all New York voters and weakens the impact of the small donors the law seeks to empower.

Large donors don’t need any extra help. Thanks in large part to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, the influence of big money in our politics has soared over the past decade, both nationally and in New York. In the 2022 statewide elections, the 200 biggest donors to candidates gave almost $16 million. That’s more than all 206,000 of the state’s small donors of $250 or less put together. This influence imbalance gives the wealthiest donors a seat at the head of the political table and leaves most New Yorkers out in the cold.

No wonder so many of us think politicians are more likely to listen to big donors than to the public. A recent poll found that 9 in 10 New Yorkers believe wealthy donors have more influence on politicians than the average voter, and a majority of New York voters across all regions and party affiliations support the state’s small donor matching program.

Under the program that lawmakers committed to in 2020 and funded last month, participating candidates would be able to fundraise the same way they campaign: by spending time with voters. This shift would encourage a new and more representative population of donors and strengthen public officials’ connections to the constituents they seek to represent.

That’s not speculation. A recent Brennan Center analysis shows that the program as it exists today will make small donors the most important source of campaign funding in the state. If public financing had been available in last year’s legislative elections, it showed, the financial power of small donors could have increased sixfold, from representing 11 percent of political contributions to as much as 67 percent. That’s a clear win for the millions of New Yorkers who have been silenced by big money.

Sixty-one percent of voters in the Mid-Hudson region, which includes Westchester County, support this groundbreaking program, and a large majority of voters across the state, including this region, wanted state leaders to adequately fund the program this year.

When they agreed to fund public campaign financing for the 2024 election cycle, state lawmakers followed through on their commitment to empowering everyday New Yorkers in the political process.  Their leadership set an example for the nation. But it will take continued leadership to ensure that the Public Campaign Finance Program delivers on its full promise for the people of New York.

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Shannon Powell is the co-founder of Indivisible Westchester, a grassroots progressive organization with more than 4,000 members. Karen Wharton is the Democracy Coalition Coordinator for Citizen Action of New York.