How matching funds work in Arizona

Arizona’s Clean Elections system provides an initial disbursement of varying amounts to candidates to choose to run with public financing. The amount of the disbursement depends on whether the candidate is running for a legislative seat, or an executive position such as governor, attorney general, secretary of state, etc.

For gubernatorial candidates, the initial disbursement from Clean Elections is about $707,000. When an opponent who solicits donations from the private sector spends more than the amount of the initial disbursement, the Clean Elections candidates in that particular race each receive a dollar-for-dollar match.

The matching funds, though, are capped; for the gubernatorial primary, matching funds are capped at about $2.1 million. That means if a candidate spends $10 million in the primary, his or her opponent would get only $2.1 million in matching funds, in addition to the initial disbursement.