Legislative Session
The state legislature convenes annually in January.
Limits to Campaign Contributions
In general, individuals are prohibited from donating more than $2,400 to statewide executive campaigns, $2,400 to statewide judicial campaigns, and $1,200 to state legislative campaigns, per election.
Additional information about limits to campaign contributions may be found here.
Filing Deadlines
Candidates are required to file detailed reports on their campaign donations and expenditures. Transparency USA provides accurate, searchable data within a month of its availability.
See Washington’s campaign finance report deadlines here.
Additional reports may be required by Washington 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.
Washington Statewide Officeholders
Washington statewide officeholders (such as the governor and attorney general) serve four-year terms and are up for reelection in presidential election years. There are no term limits.
Washington Legislature
Members of the Washington House of Representatives serve two-year terms with no term limits.
Washington State Senators serve four-year terms with no term limits.
How We Display Washington 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 Washington’s unique reporting requirements.
To help put the numbers in context, we’ve created a state-specific explanation of how we display information reported. Click the link below for a more detailed description of Washington campaign finance data and how their unique system is displayed on TUSA.