# Coordinated Party Expenditure Spending by a **political party committee** on behalf of one of its own candidates, made *in coordination with* that candidate's campaign — the party pays for the ad, and the campaign helps shape it. Under the [[Federal Election Campaign Act]] this was a distinct category, governed by 52 U.S.C. § 30116(d) (formerly § 441a(d)): it did **not** count against the party's $5,000 direct-contribution limit, but it carried its own ceiling, set by a formula keyed to the office sought and the voting-age population of the state or district. The category exists because coordination is the variable American campaign-finance law actually regulates. Money spent *with* a candidate has always been treated as the functional equivalent of a contribution and capped; money spent genuinely *apart* from a candidate — an [[Independent Expenditure]] — has been uncapped since [[Buckley v. Valeo]] (1976). The coordinated party expenditure sat exactly on that line. **The ceiling no longer exists.** On June 30, 2026 the Supreme Court held the limits unconstitutional in [[National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC]], overruling [[FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee]] (*Colorado II*, 2001). National party committees and the federal accounts of state parties may now coordinate spending with a named candidate without limit. The *category* survives — coordinated party spending is still reportable and still distinct from a contribution — but it is now the highest-capacity coordinated channel in the system, as drawn in [[How Campaign Money Moves]]. Not to be confused with **coordination by a [[Super PACs]]**, which remains prohibited outright rather than capped, and which is the only coordination wall still standing. ## See also - [[How Campaign Money Moves]] · [[Campaign Finance Hub]] · [[Independent Expenditure]] - [[National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC]] · [[FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee]] - [[Hard Money]] · [[Soft Money]] · [[Super PACs]] · [[Federal Election Commission]]