Most states allow candidates to use campaign funds for child care, but few do so.

Democratic Senator Kim Jackson of Georgia has two sons – a 3-year-old and a 4-month-old. Her older son goes to daycare, but finding someone to watch him when Jackson is out campaigning for re-election on evenings and weekends is a difficult scheduling and financial puzzle.

“It's really difficult to be available to your constituents when you're not available outside of normal daycare hours,” Jackson said.

Since 2023, candidates in Georgia have been allowed to use money from their campaign funds to pay child care costs. Jackson is making use of this rule for the first time this year after she and her wife adopted their eldest son last year.

“The main reason I need childcare is so I can do my job, which is to be with people,” Jackson said. “These resources make that easier.”

Two-thirds of states allow candidates of any gender running for public office to use campaign funds to pay child care expenses after the Federal Election Commission approved the practice for federal candidates in 2018. While women with young children say this is hugely important to their campaigns and use is growing, the number of candidates taking advantage of this provision remains relatively low and numerous complex barriers exist that prevent mothers from running.

Despite making up half the population, women hold only about 32.8% of all seats in the state legislature, according to the Center for American Women in Politics. Supporters of campaign funding for child care say it's a way to achieve more equal representation in government, and including mothers at the table is critical to their policy views on everything from the economy to parental leave.

Since 2018, more states have passed policies allowing candidates to use campaign funds for child care. Thirty-three states now allow this. Hawaii is the latest state, according to Vote Mama, a foundation that tracks the use of campaign funds. Its political action committee arm supports left-leaning candidates.

Liuba Grechen Shirley, CEO and founder of Vote Mama, said the bill has bipartisan support and that she expects all 50 states to approve its use within the next five years.

Exact guidelines vary from state to state, but most define designated use as covering expenses that result directly from campaign activities. Candidates use the funds to pay for babysitters, daycare centers and preschools.

“This is how we bring working people into office,” said Grechen Shirley.

But from 2018 to 2022, only 87 candidates used the funds in state and local elections, Vote Mama found. The group does not yet have data for the current election cycle.

Grechen Shirley found that use increased each year. In 2018, about $10,000 of campaign funds were reportedly spent on child care, a figure that rose to $225,567 in 2022. More women than men use the funds.

Only about 5 percent of state parliamentarians are mothers of children under 18, according to the group.

Candidates of color spent 70 percent of the total funds reported over the four-year period. Democratic candidates spent by far the most, while Republicans spent just 11 percent of the reported amount, Vote Mama found.

Some attribute the limited use to a lack of education on the issue. The more candidates use it, the more normal it becomes, says Grechen Shirley, who originally asked the FEC for permission as a congressional candidate.

In West Virginia, Secretary of State Mike Queen said his office was unaware of any case of someone taking advantage of a law allowing the use of cannabis since it was passed in 2021. Queen said staff had made a concerted effort to educate candidates, county officials and organizations such as Rotary clubs about the rule.

“This is just a way to reach out to men and women with children and say, 'Hey, listen, your input matters,'” he said.

The bill's lead sponsor, Democratic Rep. Kayla Young, said the aging state needs the voice of parents in policymaking, “especially mothers, who bear the brunt of child care in our society.”

Grechen Shirely said campaign managers have at times discouraged women from using campaign funds for child care to avoid political attacks, similar to criticism of candidates who receive a salary from their campaigns.

“Women have always been told not to talk about motherhood, and that's not just true in politics, but frankly in every field,” she said.

In recent years, Texas lawmakers have made it a goal to use campaign funds to de-stigmatize child care, “but none of us felt comfortable doing everything right away,” said Democratic Rep. Erin Zwiener. She believes some parents simply avoid the hassle because they are unaware of the guidelines and fear a reprimand.

Zwiener ran for office in 2018 while pregnant with her now 6-year-old daughter. She is not using any funds this year because her daughter is older and in school, but she did use campaign funds for babysitting during the 2020 election cycle.

Although the number of candidates using campaign funds to pay for child care expenses is relatively small, they say it is extremely helpful in covering costs that add up quickly over time.

Republican Rep. Cara Pavalock-D'Amato, who has served five terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives, said campaigning in 2018 was relatively easy with her young son, but he was 4 years old by the time of the 2022 election.

“Now that he's gotten older and they want to go out and do all this stuff, it's definitely gotten harder,” she said.

Pavalock-D'Amato said she likely won't use the funds this year because she's running unopposed. But in 2022, she relied on campaign funds to pay for child care on weekends when she campaigned door-to-door, spending about $500 to $1,000 on that. She supported authorizing the use when it passed in 2021.

“I know some people voted against it, and I said, 'You can't have children,'” she said.

Resistance and progress have taken many forms. In Connecticut, Caitlin Clarkson Pereira ran for state representative in 2018 when her daughter was three years old. However, her request to use campaign funds for child care was rejected by an all-male commission on the grounds that it was a personal expense. Pereira appealed the decision and later won in 2020, although she did not win her election.

Democratic Senator Nabilah Islam of Georgia gave birth four weeks prematurely in July. She is considering using campaign funds to care for the newborn starting in October while she campaigns for re-election in suburban Atlanta. Islam said the state should have implemented the rule passed last year “decades ago.”

The challenges for mothers seeking public office don't end with the election. As lawmakers, they often have to commute across large states and work odd hours, and few earn a full-time salary.

Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow was the second woman to give birth while serving in the Senate. The state does not allow campaign funds to be used for child care and the Senate has no parental leave policy, but McMorrow decided to take parental leave after the birth of her daughter shortly after the legislative session began.

“It was a calculated political risk,” said Democrat McMorrow.

McMorrow struggled with breastfeeding and postpartum depression while in office. McMorrow said she would support the use of campaign funds during her term to pay for child care, which could be tracked along with other financial records of public officials. According to Vote Mama, 12 states have approved such use.

“It’s not like your child is going to go away if you get elected,” McMorrow said.

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Associated Press writers Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta, Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, Leah Willingham in Charleston, West Virginia, and Nadia Lathan in Austin contributed to this report.

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