Coordinated communications periods: congressional general election (2020)
When a person pays for a communication that is coordinated with a candidate, a candidate’s authorized committee, or their agents, or a political party committee or its agents, the communication is considered an in-kind contribution to that candidate or party committee and is subject to the limits, prohibitions and reporting requirements of the federal campaign finance law. FEC regulations establish a three-prong test to determine whether a communication is coordinated. All three prongs of the test—payment, content and conduct—must be met for a communication to be deemed coordinated and thus an in-kind contribution.
One provision identifies certain pre-election time frames during which a public communication that references a candidate will satisfy the content prong of the coordination test.
The following chart provides the 90-day coordinated communications (CC) period for the 2020 congressional general election.
NOTE: For communications that refer to both a party and a clearly identified federal candidate please consult the regulations at 11 CFR 109.21(c)(4)(i)-(iv).
Coordinated communications period for congressional general election
| Election date | CC period (90-days prior through date of general election) | General election | 11/03/2020 | 08/05/2020 - 11/03/2020 |
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