Updated January 5, 2007

Clean Elections candidates in three states-Arizona, Maine, and North Carolina-have won 205 state offices in this year's elections. These new office holders include Democrats and Republicans, incumbents and challengers, women, and a diverse reflection of races and ethnicities.

Maine

In Maine, where Clean Elections has been in place for all state races since 2000, at least 84 percent of the legislature will be represented by people who won using public funding.

• 127 out of 151, or 84 percent of the members of the new House, and 29 out of 35, or 83 percent of the new Senate will be legislators who used public funding.
• In 63 percent of the state's legislative races, Clean Elections candidates ran against Clean Elections candidates, demonstrating the popularity of the system. Out of 186 races for state legislature, only three races (all in the House) had no publicly funded candidates.
• Three out of five gubernatorial candidates used the system. The winner, incumbent Democrat John Baldacci, did not use public financing, but showed his support for Clean Elections by ensuring the Clean Election Fund had enough funds for this election cycle.
• Of the incoming legislature, 49 women will be serving—at least 39 in the House and 10 in the Senate—who used Clean Elections.
• Of the Clean Elections officials serving in the new legislature, 63 percent are Democrats, 35 percent are Republicans and one percent are independents.
• In the House, 11 of the 12 incumbents who lost their bid for reelection were defeated by Clean Elections candidates. Four of the losing incumbents were privately financed.
• In all, 81 percent of the general elections candidates in Maine ran using Clean Elections, the same percent of the candidates as used the system in the primaries.
• Eighty-six percent of Senate candidates were publicly funded, and 79 percent of House candidates used the system.
• Women used Clean Elections at a slightly higher rate than men, with 88 percent of women running for Senate using it vs. 84 percent of men, and 81 percent of women running for House seats using it vs. 79 percent of men.
• Ninety-two percent of Democrat candidates used Clean Elections, 73 percent of Republicans, 64 percent of Greens and 38 percent of Independents.

Arizona

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Using a public funding system has been an option for Arizona state candidates since 2000. This year 42 percent of the candidates serving in the new legislature, and six out of eight elected statewide officers, ran using the system.

• Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano won her second race as a publicly funded candidate. Her Republican opponent, Len Munsil, also ran using the system.
• Thirty-eight out of 90 members of the new legislature will be made up of officials who ran using full public financing for their races. This includes 29 out of 60 members of the House and nine out of 30 members of the Senate.
• In addition to governor, five out of the remaining seven statewide winning candidates won their races using public funding. These include officials serving as secretary of state and attorney general. In total, Clean Elections participants now hold nine of the eleven total statewide offices.
• Of the 34 women who won office, 21 ran as Clean Elections candidates, including 18 of 31 legislators.
• Clean Elections participants make up 60 percent of the Democratic delegation in the new legislature and 28 percent of the Republican delegation.
• Eight members of the new legislature who are racial and ethnic minorities ran using the system.
• Over all, 61 percent of the eligible primary candidates and 59 percent of eligible general elections candidates in Arizona ran using public campaign funding.

For more analysis on 2006 Arizona results, click here: http://azclean.org/documents/2006ElectionStatistics_000.PDF

North Carolina

The 2006 elections were the second in which candidates for top judicial posts had the option to run using full public financing. Two-thirds of the candidates running for these seats, including five of the six winners, used the system this year.

• Three of the four seats up for election on the seven-member Supreme Court and both of the seats filled on the 15-member Court of Appeals will be held by judges who ran with public funding.
• Four of these publicly financed winners are women and one is an African American. Four are registered Democrats and one is a Republican (the elections are nonpartisan); one was a challenger, one won an open-seat race, and the other three were incumbents.
• Eight out of twelve candidates in the general elections used public funding. Another attempted to participate but failed to qualify.
• The only winner this year who was not in the program faced a privately financed opponent.
• Overall, 20 of the 28 candidates in the 2004 and 2006 general elections for the North Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals have met the program's conditions and received "clean" public funds for their campaigns.
• Because of public financing, the campaigns in 2004 relied on attorneys and special-interest groups for less than 14 percent of their non-family funds, compared to 73 percent for candidates in 2002, before the reform.
• Thousands of registered voters-more than 4,000 in 2006-are providing the modest qualifying donations that authorize candidates to qualify for the public funds.

For more information, contact Nancy Watzman at Public Campaign, 303-329-8563. In Maine, contact Jon Bartholemew, Common Cause, 207-878-4126. In Arizona, contact Eric Ehst, Arizona Clean Elections Institute, 602-840-6633. In North Carolina, contact Bob Hall, Democracy North Carolina, 919-489-1931.