Washington's campaign finance regulators Friday announced they were lifting the caps on large donations from individuals to state election campaigns, citing concerns by federal courts on whether state law is constitutionally enforceable.
The move, made with less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 election, could matter in campaigns across Washington, including a slew of races for state Supreme Court that could shape the institution for years to come.
It drew swift condemnation Saturday from a progressive political operative and a conservative initiative organizer.
In a statement posted Friday to its website, the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission announced the suspension of a law prohibiting campaigns from accepting contributions from any one person exceeding $75,000 for statewide campaigns, and $7,500 for local campaigns within 21 days of a general election, with some exceptions."
The agency cited “significant concerns regarding enforceability of RCW 29B.40.070 as raised by US Supreme Court and other federal court authority, and in order to maintain fairness to all campaigns in the application of law."
"This interpretation does not declare or otherwise determine the constitutionality or legal status of this or any other law,” it added.
In an interview Saturday, PDC Deputy Director Kim Bradford said commissioners had been discussing the change since June, when a case that came to their attention raised the issue. It appeared on the commission's September and October agendas for discussion, Bradford said.
Commissioners were concerned that some candidates and legal teams might know of the law's unenforceability and could then act on it during campaign season, while others were unaware, Bradford said.
"I think the commission thought it was important that everybody understand where they were at, while we are in the campaign season," she said.
Limits had not applied to ballot measure campaigns for several years, Bradford said.
In a social media post Saturday morning, Brian Heywood, of the conservative group Let's Go Washington, criticized the decision, saying it would allow progressives to spend more in the competitive state Supreme Court races.
"In this final stretch, when voters are filling out ballots, the PDC changed the donation rules so there's no limit on what one donor can give a PAC," Heywood wrote in the post. "Checks of any size, right up to Election Day."
Let's Go Washington has three initiatives on the ballot that it organized for: one to overturn the state's new "millionaires tax"; another aimed at reversing changes lawmakers implemented to the existing "parents bill of rights" regulating what kind of school records parents can request; and one that would bar transgender girls from competing with their cisgender peers in girls K-12 sports, requiring student athletes to submit medical documentation that “verifies” their “biological sex.”
Heywood was the eighth-largest donor in the 2025 election cycle, donating a total of $1.6 million, mostly to Let's Go Washington. So far this year, he has donated less than half that amount.
Stephen Paolini, a consultant with Bottled Lightning Collective, is working on multiple campaigns, including for the state Supreme Court and Democratic congressional campaigns. He also blasted the move. Paolini questioned why the cap was lifted so close to the election, rather than earlier.
“I think it’s horrible timing,” he said. “It’s like we’ve all been playing an entire football season under one set of rules and then the night before the Super Bowl,” a key rule is changed, he said.
Paolini said questions over the law are not new.
“The idea that this rule might have been unconstitutional or unenforceable has been on people’s radar for a long time,” he said. “It just was never tested.”
In effect, the rule change will allow wealthy people to donate large sums to independent groups spending for or against a candidate or cause.
“Now, you could accept any amount of money, and the way the timing and reporting works out, we may not know until after the election, who gave what and how much,” he said.
The top donations in this spending-heavy election cycle have come from corporations and unions: North Coast States Regional Council of Carpenters, Microsoft, Rivian Automotive and the Washington Education Association, according to PDC data.
The North Coast States Regional Council of Carpenters gave around $10 million total to an affiliated PAC that backs policies favorable to union carpenters.
Microsoft donated around $5 million total to a PAC called Washington Needs to Compete, a PAC backing business-friendly Democrats in competitive legislative races.
Rivian Automotive donated around $4.8 million total to its affiliated PAC, Washington Coalition for Consumer Choice and Innovation, which is pushing a measure to let electric vehicle makers sell directly to consumers.
The Washington Education Association donated a total of $4.1 million, $3 million of which went to the No on 645 campaign, a committee opposed to repealing the "millionaires tax.
Candidates in one state Supreme Court race, between King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell and Court of Appeals Judge Ian Birk, had raised over $1 million combined — already one of the most expensive judicial campaigns in state history, before the campaign finance cap was lifted.
Seattle Times reporter Alexis Weisend contributed to this story.
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