LD26 Senate Candidate Christine Clarke First to use Campaign Funds for Child Care bill in New Jersey

Jefferson Twp., NJ:   26th Legislative District State Senate candidate Christine Clarke has filed a campaign report including a child care provider as an expense of running for office. New Jersey bill S698 passed in 2020 legitimized child care as a need of running for office for parents of young children, clearing the way for politically-inclined parents to raise funds in their races for child care as one of the many needs of campaigning.

“Child care is the number one reason politically-interested women give for choosing not to run for office at all, or choosing to delay a run until their children are grown,” said Clarke. “Now that Senator Ruiz’s and Assemblywoman Pintor Marin’s important bill has passed, it’s time to use it to normalize its use and welcome more mothers into politics where their voices are so needed.”

As the first legislative candidate endorsed by Vote Mama PAC in New Jersey in 2019, Clarke was instrumental in the peer-to-peer fight for passage of this legislation, often using her own campaign in articles and public communications as an example in support of the bill. It was an opportunity to actively highlight the need for equity toward working mothers in running campaigns, and how difficult it is to run for office as a mother of young children. In the time after her first run for office, she called members of the Legislature asking for support of the bill, testified on its behalf and organized grassroots calls to action in support.

Inspired by Founder and CEO Liuba Grechen Shirley, Vote Mama Foundation is involved in fighting for campaign funds for childcare in all 50 states, like New Jersey’s bill S698 that passed in 2020. Vote Mama’s May 2021 Campaign Funds for Childcare Report details the ways in which campaign funds for childcare actively invite more women into government and improve policy. Research that examined the work of elected women serving between 1973 and 2013 found that working mothers who are elected while their children are under age 18 are more inclined to support legislation that helps children and families.

After the historic FEC ruling won by Liuba Grechen Shirley during her 2018 run for Congress, in which she petitioned for and won the right to use campaign funds for childcare for federal candidates, parents in federal races started using their raised campaign funds for child care. More than 73% of the people who used campaign funds for childcare in federal races in 2018 and 2020 were women, and 45% were people of color.

At the state level, 66 candidates in 28 states have used campaign funds for child care. However in New Jersey, even after bill S698 passed, it wasn’t used right away.

“We have too few women in government as it is,” said Clarke. “In the New Jersey Senate, only 11 of 40 Senators are women and one is stepping down this year. So many issues in front of legislators need the perspectives of women toward fair and equitable discussions. This bill leveled the playing field a bit more for moms. I’m proud to have supported it and proud now to use it.”

“Christine Clarke has filed the first request, of what will soon be many, to use Campaign Funds for Childcare in New Jersey. I applaud her for taking this monumental step, and thank Senators Ruiz, Scutari, and Cunningham for introducing the legislation that forged this path forward. By tearing down a significant structural and financial barrier that often keeps working parents out of politics altogether, Campaign Funds for Childcare brings diverse voices and experiences to the ballot. Only when we change who is sitting at the decision-making table can we ensure that the needs of working families are met, and that our representatives truly reflect us. This is a bright day in New Jersey, and an indication of an even brighter future in which more mothers will run for office and more of our nation’s representatives will understand the struggles of working families because they have also faced them. Vote Mama is proud to support Christine Clarke in her election for New Jersey State Senate District 26, and confident that she will use her lived experience as a mother to create a brighter future for her community.” said Liuba Grechen Shirley, Vote Mama Founder and CEO.

“I’m so happy I got to be a part of such an important and influential cause, and that I got to have fun with the kids,” said Elizabeth Katz, Jefferson Township High School student and Clarke’s babysitter during the summer months of the campaign. “It was a wonderful experience and I’m proud of the impact we’ve made through this.”

“My husband Aaron and I are honored that Elizabeth is the first babysitter hired with the babysitter bill. She got to be a part of the right side of history,” said Michele Katz, Elizabeth’s mother.

Clarke is an environmental advocate, a grassroots organizer and a mother-of-four running to build the clean energy economy, improve healthcare and lower costs, protect clean air and water, and lead with empathy and fiscal sense. Learn more about her at ClarkeForSenate.com.

The 26th District includes 13 communities in Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties: Butler, Fairfield, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, Montville, Morris Plains, North Caldwell, Parsippany, Rockaway Township, Verona, West Caldwell, and West Milford.