The Democratic primary for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat concluded more than a month ago, with social worker Paige Loud finishing last in the four-person race with around 10 percent of the vote. 

But Loud’s effort to settle debts, both campaign-related and personal, has continued well past the June 9 election — and raised questions this week about whether her approach was out of step with campaign finance rules.

Post-election fundraising is common, for winning and losing federal candidates alike, as they work to retire their campaign debts and recoup personal expenses. Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won a case before the Supreme Court in 2022 that struck down previous restrictions on how much money and how long after an election campaigns could fundraise to reimburse a candidate for a loan they made to their own campaign. 

What makes Loud’s continued fundraising stand out is the way she has turned to crowdfunding site GoFundMe for donations, and the evolving messages she has shared with potential donors as part of that effort. Her page initially implied she would be using the donations to pay off debt related to campaign expenses, but after a reporter from The Maine Monitor reached out with questions, she updated the language to say that this particular fundraising effort was solely to help her cover personal expenses, including rent and health care, from her time as a candidate.

Personal expenses like this are generally not subject to the same limitations and reporting requirements as campaign expenses.

The GoFundMe page, initially titled “Help Me Continue Fighting for Maine,” went live in late July and currently shows a target of $10,000.

“As the campaign came to a close, I made the decision to personally cover the remaining campaign expenses using my own credit cards,” she initially wrote on GoFundMe. “I wanted to make sure the staff who dedicated themselves to this campaign were paid and that the vendors who provided essential services received what they were owed.” 

She went on to say that this meant she was “carrying thousands of dollars in personal debt,” and that she needed help paying it down so she could “continue doing what I’ve dedicated my life to: serving Mainers.”

The page said donations via GoFundMe would not be considered campaign contributions: “Because the campaign has ended and these funds are going toward my personal debt from the race, contribution limits do not apply, and donations are not reportable to the FEC.” 

But contributions related to campaign expenses would likely need to be reported to the Federal Election Commission.The Maine Monitor reached out to the FEC and several campaign finance and election law experts to ask for clarification on the rules.

“The law is clear that money raised after an election to pay for campaign expenses is subject to the exact same rules as money raised before, in terms of contribution limits and disclosure requirements and source restrictions,” said Erin Chlopak, the campaign finance senior director at the Campaign Legal Center, a D.C.-based nonprofit.  

Chlopak, who previously spent nearly a decade working at the FEC, was one of several legal experts who emphasized to The Monitor that contribution limits and reporting requirements for campaign expenses don’t end simply because a campaign has ended. 

But these same rules also allow for a small handful of exemptions, including for payments that go toward personal living expenses for the candidate, which are not treated as campaign contributions and not subject to limitations and reporting requirements. 

“Individuals are free to raise money for their personal living expenses, and such fundraising would not be subject to federal campaign finance law,” said Caleb Burns, the election law and government ethics co-chair at D.C. law firm Wiley Rein. “However, the legal line between what constitutes a campaign expense and what constitutes a personal expense is often blurry.” 

An FEC spokesperson said they could not comment on a specific candidate, but provided information on the rules that govern how candidates and campaigns can pay off debt and receive payments from a third party. The spokesperson said that there isn’t an inherent problem with candidates using GoFundMe as a fundraising platform, but agreed that third-party payments for campaign-related expenses must be treated as campaign contributions and are subject to restrictions and reporting even after the campaign has concluded — unless the payments fall under one of the exemptions, such as personal living expenses. 

After receiving the legal and FEC input, The Monitor reached out to Loud Wednesday afternoon to ask about the apparent disconnect between her initial GoFundMe call for donations and FEC rules. She acknowledged “a mistake on our team’s part in the language” and said the GoFundMe was meant to only cover personal living expenses, which are exempt from the federal requirements.

Loud said her campaign is continuing a separate fundraising effort to raise money for campaign-related debts. She updated the GoFundMe language Wednesday evening to state explicitly that any donations collected there are for personal living expenses, and included a comment explaining the changes and noting how previous donors could reach out to her and get a refund if they meant to donate to her official campaign fundraising effort. 

“It was brought to my attention that there might be some confusion about what the GoFundMe donations are going toward, so I want to follow up to clarify,” Loud wrote. The image on the page was also changed from one with campaign signs in the background to one of Loud in a graduation cap and gown.

She also thanked donors for helping her raise more than $2,000 so far. 

“We have two separate fundraising efforts established. I loaned personal funds to the campaign to cover campaign expenses, and we are fundraising directly to the committee to pay off that loan,” Loud said. “The GoFundMe contributions are to reimburse myself for the personal debt I incurred to cover personal expenses like rent, healthcare, food, car insurance, etc. The wording on the GoFundMe page has been changed to clarify that.”

FEC data indicates that Loud’s campaign committee still owes over $31,000 related to official campaign expenses. She said she will continue to make calls and try to raise money for that outstanding debt separately from the GoFundMe effort. The GoFundMe fundraiser is seeking to help with roughly $30,000 in additional personal expenses that Loud said piled up as she ran for office while in grad school and without a job.

“Both me and my husband worked for free as volunteers on my campaign for over six months, and we incurred debt from all the things that you have to do to live — housing, food, car insurance — and that is what the GoFundMe is for,” Loud said. “And we set it up specifically, so we have two different fundraising operations at the same time, so none of the money is getting mixed up in any way.”

Her official campaign website still has information on how people can donate by mail.  

Though GoFundMe’s terms of service prohibit fundraisers on the site from promoting or involving electoral fundraising, Loud was confident that her effort falls within those rules because, as made clear in her updated language, she is asking for help with personal living expenses rather than campaign expenses. A GoFundMe spokesperson essentially confirmed Loud’s interpretation on Thursday afternoon. 

“This fundraiser remains within GoFundMe’s Terms of Service at this time,” the spokesperson said.

Loud said her experience running for office for the first time while going to school full-time was challenging and expensive because she did not have “a network of wealthy people” to rely on.

She said she felt her experience demonstrated a need for publicly-funded campaigns and campaign finance reform. 

“I think normal people should be able to run for office without going tens of thousands of dollars into debt just to pay their rent and their car insurance, and to feed themselves,” she said. 

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.