California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters’ congressional campaign has been fined $68,000 for violating several federal campaign finance laws during her 2020 reelection bid.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently published investigation documents showing Waters’ 2020 campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, understated contributions and spending by hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Waters campaign has agreed to pay the fine and “send its treasurer to a commission sponsored training program for political committees,” nonpartisan campaign finance research group OpenSecrets reported. (RELATED: Maxine Waters Has Four-Minute Meltdown Shouting About How Much She Dislikes Trump, Musk)
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 7: Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) questions Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as he appears before the House Financial Services Committee on May 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. Bessent is testifying on the state of international financial systems (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images)
Waters’ 2020 campaign accepted $19,000 worth of excessive contributions throughout 2019 and 2020, and made $7,000 worth of “prohibited cash disbursements” from a petty cash fund, according to the FEC documents first reported by OpenSecrets.
During the FEC’s investigation last year, Waters’ attorney Leilani Beaver wrote to the agency, claiming Waters’ campaign committee “acknowledges errors were made which were not willful or purposeful,” adding that “the errors were primarily a result of limited staff availability and resources during the pandemic.”
Beaver also said Waters’ committee “amended its reports to correct the financial misstatements” and “refunded or disgorged all excess contributions reflected” in an audit conducted by FEC staff.
It’s not the first time Waters, who has served in Congress since 1991, has faced ethical financial problems. In 2004, Waters arranged for her daughter to work on her campaign as a slate mailer — an uncommon practice on the federal level, but typical within California politics — providing her daughter with over $1.2 million in payments since, which many allege to be campaign finance malpractice.
The House Ethics Committee also formally accused Waters of violating conflict of interest rules in 2010, claiming she was giving government help to a bank with ties to her husband. The Committee eventually dismissed the case but Waters’ chief of staff was reprimanded.
Citizens for Waters was accused by the National Legal and Policy Center of accepting an illegal campaign contribution during her 2018 reelection campaign, but the FEC dismissed the complaint in a 5-1 vote in 2021.
In recent years, the longtime California lawmaker has become well-known for her staunch opposition to President Donald Trump. During Trump’s first term in 2018, she notably made headlines when she told her supporters to “create a crowd” around administration officials, suggesting that they were “not welcome” in a variety of public places including restaurants, stores and gas stations.
Waters’ office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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