Texas Ethics Commission filing: a candidate's guide

Campaign-finance filing is where good local campaigns go to die — not because the rules are impossibly hard, but because first-time candidates don't know which agency they answer to or when the next report is due. The Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) governs campaign finance at the state level, but most local candidates — for school board, city council, or mayor — actually file with their local filing authority. Get that one distinction right and the rest is a calendar. This guide is the cornerstone: it explains who you file with, the forms you'll use, and the deadlines that decide whether you stay clean.

Do local candidates file with the TEC or somewhere else?

This is the question that trips up nearly every first-time local candidate. The Texas Ethics Commission is the state agency that writes the rules and collects filings for state and district offices. But for local offices, the law usually points you to a local filing authority:

• School board (ISD) candidates typically file with the school district — often the district secretary or designated elections official.
• City council and mayoral candidates typically file with the city secretary.
• County offices (like county commissioner) point to the county's designated authority.

What's the first thing you have to file?

Before anything else — before a fundraiser, before a deposit, before you print a single sign — you must appoint a campaign treasurer by filing the Campaign Treasurer Appointment (CTA) with your filing authority. This is not optional and not a formality: in Texas you cannot legally accept a contribution or make an expenditure until that appointment is on file.

What is Form C/OH, and when is it due?

Once you can raise and spend money, you have to report it. The core periodic report is Form C/OH (Candidate / Officeholder Campaign Finance Report), which discloses your contributions, expenditures, and any loans. For an election cycle, the deadlines that matter most are the two pre-election reports:

Exact due dates shift with the calendar each cycle, so confirm them with your filing authority and put every one in your calendar the day you file your CTA. For a cycle-specific list of dates, see our Texas campaign finance deadlines for 2027.

Can you file less often? The modified-reporting threshold

Texas offers a lighter path for small campaigns. If you certify that you will not exceed a set threshold of contributions or expenditures for the cycle, you may qualify for modified reporting, which can excuse you from the 30-day and 8-day pre-election reports. For 2027 that threshold sits around $34,890 — but this figure is adjusted periodically, so you must confirm the current number with the TEC or your filing authority before relying on it. The same threshold area is what triggers electronic filing requirements; see our breakdown of the 2027 electronic-filing threshold.

What are the most common filing mistakes?

Almost every compliance problem in a local race comes from a short list of avoidable errors:

• Accepting money before the CTA is filed — the single most common rookie violation.
• Missing the 30-day or 8-day report — these are public and visible, and late filings can carry fines.
• Sloppy record-keeping — guessing at totals instead of logging every contribution and expenditure as it happens.
• Filing with the wrong authority — sending reports to the TEC when your office files locally, or vice versa.
• Forgetting semiannual and final reports — obligations don't end on Election Day.

We cover each in depth in common campaign finance mistakes in Texas. The fix for all of them is the same: file your treasurer appointment first, log money in real time, and calendar every deadline.

The bottom line

Texas campaign-finance compliance is not complicated once you know the shape of it: confirm your local filing authority, file your CTA before any money moves, report on Form C/OH, and never miss the 30-day and 8-day deadlines. Verify thresholds and dates with your authority each cycle, because they shift. Want the paperwork handled automatically? See how Mandate keeps a campaign TEC-ready, or apply to run with us.