Approximately 80 percent of General Assembly candidates who ran unopposed in Tuesday’s general election received public funding through the Citizen Election Program (CEP), according to campaign filing data reviewed by Inside Investigator.
Across the 187 races for Senate and House of Representatives candidates, over 40 were unopposed, and only nine did not receive CEP funding. In total, CEP funds of just over $768,000 were awarded to legislative candidates who were running unopposed. A number of those awards were made to candidates after the August 11 primary.
Across all legislative candidates, approximately 84 percent applied for and were found eligible to receive CEP funding.
To receive CEP, candidates must raise qualifying contributions between $5 and $340 of an aggregate amount determined by the office they are seeking. For Senate candidates, that number in 2026 was $20,100, with contributions required to come from at least 300 residents of municipalities in their districts. For House candidates, that number was $6,700, with 150 contributions required to come from in-district.
The amount a candidate receives depends on when they apply for the grant, whether they are running unopposed or against a candidate who did not qualify for CEP funding, and whether they are running in a district the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) has determined is dominated by one party.
In total, legislative candidates received roughly $14.5 million in CEP funding during the 2026 cycle, according to data from campaign filings. The SEEC determined that approximately 365 candidates across both the primary and general elections were eligible to receive grants. According to SEEC’s 2024 report, the number of candidates eligible to receive grants increased, but the amount of funds disbursed for the primary and general elections remained about the same.
In 2024, the SEEC awarded 300 total grants to legislative candidates, including in primaries and special elections. Funds awarded for the general election totaled roughly $12.8 million, and funds awarded in primaries totaled roughly $1.7 million.
Additionally, the majority of candidates in party-dominant districts, where the number of voters in one major party exceeds voters enrolled by the other major party by at least 20 percent, received CEP funding. In the House, almost 60 candidates in party-dominant districts, all of which are dominated by Democrats, received CEP funding. In the Senate, 10 candidates in party-dominant districts received CEP funding. Over 20 of those candidates, the majority in the House, also ran unopposed.
Candidates did not receive CEP funding in a dozen House races, the majority of which were both unopposed and in party-dominant districts. Two races in the Senate also did not see candidates receive CEP funding.
Additionally, not a single general election candidate who ran as an independent, either with a recognized party or unaffiliated, received CEP funding. Independent candidates are eligible to receive grants, largely at a reduced percentage of those available to major party candidates, if they meet certain thresholds based on the percentage of the vote their party received in the last election, ballot access, and petition signatures.
Several candidates whom the SEEC determined were eligible to receive CEP grants do not appear to have received any funds. Kevin Brown, the Democratic candidate in House District 56; Alex Armstrong, the Democratic candidate in House District 119; and Gary Winfield, the Democratic Senate candidate in District 10, were all approved to receive CEP funds, but did not, according to their campaign filings.
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