Former Vice President Mike Pence sought public financing for his failed presidential primary campaign, a highly unusual move that, if successful, would make him the first Republican in more than a decade to receive such funds, according to documents from the Federal Election Commission that have not been previously disclosed. .
Beginning in the post-Watergate era, the federal government has allowed presidential candidates to request and receive public dollars. But the program has become practically obsolete, as it imposes strict spending limits on anyone who participates, at a time when the cost of national campaigns has skyrocketed.
Even requesting the money is often seen as a sign of desperation because the program limits are so onerous.
Pence, who served as former President Donald J. Trump’s running mate in 2016 and 2020 before challenging him last year, has struggled to gain traction in the 2024 Republican race from the start.
Campaigning as an avatar of the Republican Party’s old guard and warning that Trump’s populism was the “road to ruin,” Pence raised about $5.3 million last year, never found significant support in public polls, and dropped out. in late October when he faced the possibility of not qualifying for another debate.
Pence’s campaign committee had more than $1.3 million in unpaid debts at the end of March, federal records show. Qualifying for public funds now would likely help you pay those bills.
A spokesperson for Pence did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was unclear why Pence’s request for public funds last fall has not yet been met. On Tuesday, the Federal Election Commission published an eligibility report from its application audit division, as well as a memo from the general counsel’s office on the matter. A discussion is on the agenda for a commission meeting Thursday.
There are strict limits to qualify for the public funding program, including raising $5,000 in at least 20 different states. Candidates themselves must not spend more than $50,000 of their own money.
Notably, Pence had initially seeded his campaign with $150,000 in July 2023. But he repaid $100,000 of that amount on Oct. 3, weeks before dropping out, records show. That move could potentially make him eligible for public funds, but it also shows that he could have been considering dropping out of the race for weeks before dropping out. FEC documents published Tuesday suggest he requested public funds on Oct. 12.
In a sign of the program’s increasingly irrelevant status, no Democrats or Republicans used the program in 2020.
The last major party candidate to take advantage of the program in the primary was Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor who ran for president in 2016 as a Democrat and received just over $1 million in public funds. The last major party candidate to receive matching funds in the general election was John McCain in his 2008 Republican campaign.
Barack Obama’s decision in that 2008 campaign to opt out of the public financing system is widely seen as the functional end of the program for general election campaigns.
