QUESTION:
Do presidential candidates get paid while on the campaign trail?
ANSWER:
We verified yes, this is true.
SOURCES:
Politics and International Affairs Professor at Wake Forest University: John Dinan
Congressional Service Report
House Committee on Ethics
PROCESS:
A viewer asked if candidates get paid their salaries while on the campaign trail?
A Politics and International Affairs professor at Wake Forest University says public officials serving in a position like Senator, Representative or Governor, collect their salaries while campaigning for another position.
We checked out The Congressional Research Service report that cites the 27th amendment which says,
“No law, changing the compensation for services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives intends to intervene."
And who's covering the cost for the candidates travel?
According to the House Committee on Ethics, if the primary reason for a trip is to handle campaign activity only, travel expenses must be paid with campaign funds and not official funds.
Officials funds come from an allowance of government money that can pay for things like traveling for business as part of committee work.
So we can verify yes, presidential candidates running a campaign do still get paid their salaries.