Limits to Campaign Contributions
All candidates may accept unlimited contributions per individual donor, per election cycle.
Candidates may accept unlimited per political action committee (PAC), per election cycle.
Candidates may accept unlimited contributions from state political parties.
Candidates may make unlimited contributions to their own campaign from their personal funds.
Candidates may not accept contributions from a super PAC, corporation, or union.
Filing Deadlines
Transparency USA provides accurate, searchable data within a few weeks of its release by the Pennsylvania Department of State. All report dates for Pennsylvania are estimates at this time. When a report date is not clear, Transparency USA checks daily for new data around the historic due date of its release.
See campaign finance report deadlines here.
Additional reports may be required by Pennsylvania filers. If a report is skipped (often because its deadline is close to another), the data from that report is captured in the next update.
Pennsylvania Statewide Office Holders
Pennsylvania statewide office holders (such as the governor and lieutenant governor) serve four-year terms and are up for reelection in non-presidential election years.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly begins its session in January of each year and meets regularly throughout the year. In November of even-numbered years, both chambers of the Assembly adjourn as the terms of its members expire on November 30.
Pennsylvania House Representatives serve two-year terms.
Pennsylvania State Senators serve four-year terms.
Term Limits
Pennsylvania legislators have no term limits. The Pennsylvania Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General are limited to two consecutive terms in office, while the Treasurer and Auditor General are limited to two terms in office.
How We Display Pennsylvania Campaign Finance Data
Campaign finance is complex, with reporting practices that vary widely from state to state. As a reporting system — and not a balance sheet — contributions and expenditures do not balance the way we’d expect if it were an accounting system. In most cases, this does not mean that the data is incomplete, but rather, that entities are following Pennsylvania’s unique reporting requirements.
In some instances, donations have been reported to the state agency with no specific date. In these cases, we have included them on January 1st of the election year in which they were made.
To help put the numbers in context, we’ve created a state-specific explanation of how we display information reported, including in-kind donations, negative amounts and other unusual items. Click the link below for a more detailed description of how Pennsylvania data is displayed on TUSA: