BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The 2024 election cycle was the first in which New York state Legislature candidates could utilize public matching funds for small in-district donations.

Late last week, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law released analysis of the program showing broad participation from candidates and donors alike.

"This was a long-awaited, long-anticipated program. This program, already in its first run, is changing the game in New York state with legislative elections," counsel Marina Pino said.

In 2020 and 2022, in-district contributions of less than $250 accounted for roughly 5% of total donations. Brennan Center Counsel Marina Pino says last election, the amount of people who made those donations roughly doubled and when including matching funds, jumped to nearly half of the total contributions.

"We actually saw participation span across the state. This was rural, urban, suburban districts. This was not something that was just in New York City or just on Long Island. We saw participation in the Hudson Valley, in the Buffalo area, Syracuse," Pino said.

The analysis found large donations from Political Action Committees and corporations held relatively steady, still accounting for $21.6 million in 2024, but its share of the overall funding decreased from well over 40% to less than a quarter. Pino said in each of the top five legislative districts PACs and other outside groups targeted, small donations plus matching funds exceeded their contributions.

"Outside spending, independent expenditures, these are going to exist in a post-Citizens United world. We saw even with that existing in a certain concentration of legislative districts, we're talking ten percent, we saw publicly-financed candidates still run viable campaigns fueled by their constituents and often-times when they were facing that outside spending, they won," Pino said.

The Brennan Center said there is room for growth with roughly 70% of candidates signing up for the program last year and more than 40% ultimately qualifying.

The governor has allocated $114.5 million for the program in the budget, which the Brennan Center endorses as the right level to support the public campaign financing program. That includes $14.5 million for administrative costs, including launching a more user-friendly online platform for candidates.

As for donor participation, the report notedmany returning candidates shifted their behavior in 2024, promoting the matching funds, a strategy that was successful in increasing the amount of small contributions they received.