• Per cycle means aggregate during the period from January 1 after the date of the previous general election for the office through December 31 after the upcoming general election for the office.

• Per election means per each primary, general, or special election for that office.

• Per calendar year means aggregate during the period from January 1 through December 31 each year.

• Contributions designated for the exempt account of a bona fide political party are NOT subject to limit, except during the 21 days before the general election when the $5,000 maximum applies. See next.

• During the 21 days before the general election, no contributor may donate over $50,000 in the aggregate to a candidate for statewide office, or over $5,000 in the aggregate to a candidate for any other office or to a political committee. This includes contributions to a party committee, as well as a candidate’s personal contributions to his/her own campaign. It does not apply to contributions from the state committee of the WA State Democratic, Republican or Libertarian Party or from a minor party.

• $2,100 per election to a Federal candidate. Notice that the limit applies separately to each election. Primaries, runoffs and general elections are considered separate elections.

• $5,000 per calendar year to a PAC or state party committee. This limit applies to a PAC (political action committee) that supports Federal candidates. (PACs are neither party committees nor candidate committees. Some PACs are sponsored by corporations and unions & trade, industry and labor PACs. Other PACs, often ideological, do not have a corporate or labor sponsor and are therefore called nonconnected PACs.) PACs use your contributions to make their own contributions to Federal candidates to fund other election-related activities.

• $10,000 per calendar year to state or local party committees. State Party committee shares its limits with local party committee in most states unless a local committee's independence can be demonstrated.

• $25,000 per calendar year to a national party committee. This limit applies separately to a party's national committee, House campaign committee and Senate campaign committee.

• $95,000 total biennial limit. This biennial limit places a ceiling on your total contributions.

• $100 in currency (cash) to any political committee. (Anonymous cash contributions may not exceed $50.) Contributions exceeding $100 must be made by check, money order or other written instrument.

Presidential Campaigns - Campaign Limits
The contribution limits work a little differently for Presidential campaigns. In the case of a Presidential candidate running in various State primaries, you may contribute up to $200 for the entire primary campaign period - not $200 for each State primary in which the candidate runs.

Your contributions may be supplemented with Federal (U.S. Treasury) funds. If a Presidential primary candidate has qualified for the Federal matching fund program, up to $250 of your total contributions to that candidate may be matched with Federal funds. Contributions must be in the form of a check or other written instrument. (Note that some contributions are not matchable, such as currency, loans, goods and services, and any type of contribution from a political committee.)

In the general election, however, you may not make any contributions to the campaigns of Democratic or Republican nominees who receive Federal funds. (Federal funding in the general election takes the form of direct government grants rather than matching payments.) You may nevertheless designate a contribution of up to $1,000 to the candidate's compliance fund, a special account used to pay for certain legal and accounting expenses. You may also contribute up to $2,000 to the general election campaign of any Presidential candidate who is not a Federally funded Democratic or Republican nominee. Federal funds used in Presidential elections come from the dollars voluntarily checked off by taxpayers on their Federal income tax returns. (The checkoff does not affect the total amount of taxes paid or any refund due.)

Joint Contributions
If two or more individuals want to make a contribution using one check drawn on a joint account, all the contributors must sign the check or an attached statement. The check or signed statement may show how much should be attributed to each donor; otherwise, the contribution is equally divided among the contributors.