It’s election season and candidates are knocking on doors, talking to constituents and throwing fundraisers. Those who are parents have to do all of that while also navigating child care.
However, the Campaign Spending Commission issued an advisory opinion last week saying that candidates can use their campaign funds to pay for child care.
Louisa Duggan with the Vote Mama Foundation, an organization that advocates for caregivers to hold political office, explained that the inability to afford child care is a reason why many people wait until their children are grown to even consider running for office.
“I hope that as we continue to expand and normalize this vital resource that we anticipate that the number of candidates using campaign funds to cover child care and dependent care expenses will continue to rise because it's so needed,” she said.
“I've heard from many moms in particular who have said, 'I can't run because of child care,' or 'The only reason why I was able to run was because I could use my campaign funds to pay for child care expenses.'”
A 2022 study by the Vote Mama Foundation found that less than 7% of Hawaiʻi state legislators were mothers with minor children.
A recent study by Lending Tree showed that Hawaiʻi is the 7th most expensive for parents paying for child care in comparison to their income. It found that parents pay over $1,600 a month in Hawaiʻi for child care, which on average takes up 20% of the family’s income.
The new opinion makes Hawaiʻi one of 33 states that have explicitly authorized using campaign funds for child care expenses. The Federal Elections Commission has also issued a similar opinion for candidates running for national office.
Duggan explained that the opinion from the state Elections Commission is a positive step forward. However, Duggan and members of the Campaign Spending Commission wanted to see legislation passed to codify the opinion.
'It easily gets pushed to the side'
For the last two years, Sen. Donna Mercado Kim has introduced bills that allow the use of campaign funds for not just child care, but also elder and dependent care.
The bills made it to conference committee — one of the last steps in the legislative process — both years, failed to become law despite support from lawmakers.
“It's one of those measures that doesn't really rise to the top where people get all excited,” Kim said. “It easily gets pushed to the side.”
Kim was a single mom and recalled campaigning while her son, Micah Aiu, was young. Aiu is now a state representative. Kim said she was lucky her parents supported her and could watch him during that time.
“I could go to work with peace of mind knowing that he was being well taken care of. Friends would tell me, 'You're so lucky you have your parents here' because there's a lot of people that don't have their parents,” she said.
“They might be from somewhere else or a neighboring island. ... Many people don't have that.”
Kim also emphasized the need to support caregivers who are not parents but may be taking care of sick or elderly relatives.
“When my mom got really ill, I was helping caregive for her, but I had the resources to be able to handle that,” she said.
“If this bill was in effect, it probably wouldn't have affected me, but there are so many other people that are not as fortunate as I was.”
Kim hoped that the Campaign Spending Commission’s opinion would be able to bolster the bill and get it past the finish line this upcoming legislative session.
Parents in office
Duggan explained that candidates who currently have kids bring a specific perspective to the table.
“We desperately need the voices of parents with the lived experience of what it means to have to decide: How do you pay for your mortgage and pay for child care and put food on the table and pay for health insurance for your whole family?” she said.
“These are folks who are experiencing those decisions every single day. We need their lived experiences at the decision-making table to inform policy because they're the ones that know exactly what it means to be raising a family in America.”
Becky Gardner, a single mom with two school-aged children, ran for office in 2020 for a state House of Representatives seat. Her younger daughter is 11 years old, and public school issues were a focal point of her campaign.
“ If we wait, then we're wasting so much talent and then the immediacy of the moment that is gone,” she said.
“I'd have to wait another seven years before she graduated from high school. I'm not going to remember a lot of this stuff. It's not going to be as important to me. I'm going to be tired. I'm going to be 57. It's not going to be the same.”
Gardner said she considered trying to use her campaign funds for child care, but she was worried about the stigma that could follow. She explained that it’s up to all parents — not just mothers — to normalize it.
“ I would just put out a call to all the men out there, all the dads out there. There's a lot of really, really good dads out there, really good men out there, and they understand this, and they want to support the women. ... They think it's unfair too, but they're just kind of stuck in this status quo,” she said.
“But if we had a bunch of dads who embrace this policy? We'll see change.”
The primary election is on Aug. 10. Voters should receive their ballots next week.
