Social Security and Running for Office: What You Need to Know
By Sarah Blahovec
Can you run for office if you receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability (SSDI or DIB) benefits? This is a question that I got frequently during my time on staff at the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL). It’s an important question for disabled people. While not all disabled people receive Social Security, as of the end of 2020, about 12 million people ages 18 to 64 received social security disability benefits. However, the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) website had no information on whether people who receive SSI or SSDI can run for and serve in elected office.
Running for and Serving in Elected Office
While running for and serving in elected office share some similarities with other employment, they are not the same as working a steady job with income. Of course, when we think of elected office, we often think about the President or members of Congress, full-time positions with six-figure salaries. However, Congress, the President, and the Vice President are only 537 of the over 500,000 elected officials in the United States, and there are only around 7,000 state legislators and governors. There are over 493,000 local elected officials in the United States, many of whom work in part-time roles with little or no salary. These local elected officials include the mayors and city council members of large cities, but they also include the school board members, city councilors, and local officials of smaller towns around the country.
Even state legislature salaries vary widely and may not be livable. According to a report by New American Leaders, only four states have full-time legislatures and receive adequate compensation. This means that many people are locked out of running for and serving in elected office because they simply cannot afford to both work as a legislator and work the other job they need to provide for themselves and their families.
When it comes to running for office, there are complicated rules for federal office candidates on how they can receive a salary running for office. However, these complex rules don’t allow a campaign to pay for a candidate’s health insurance premium, and they also are written in a way that disadvantages low-income candidates, while benefiting candidates who were already earning a high salary in their previous job. And the Federal Election Commission’s rules only apply to candidates seeking federal office: President, Vice President, and Congress. For candidates for state and local office, there are no such rules that allow them to take a salary from campaign funds.
Meanwhile, many disabled people rely on Social Security and Medicaid to pay for living expenses and health care access. Private insurance in the United States does not provide long-term services and supports, while Medicaid allows disabled people to access home and community-based services (HCBS) that allow them to receive services and live in their own communities. In most states, Medicaid is linked to receipt of SSI benefits.
The Social Security Administration’s Answer
So will running for elected office impact your Social Security benefits? Unfortunately, it can. The SSA emphasized that disability determinations are made on a case-by-case basis, but there are several ways in which running for office can impact benefits. Here is their response, first published on NCIL’s Advocacy Monitor:
“First, it is important to note that our rules require beneficiaries to inform the Agency of events that may affect their disability status. Such events include a return to work, an increase in hours worked, or an increase in earnings received. Holding an elected office, even if part-time or unpaid, is work that the beneficiary should report. Furthermore, our rules also require a beneficiary to report medical improvement that allows them to return to work. Thus, if the beneficiary’s ability to campaign correlates with medical improvement, he or she should report that medical improvement to us. This information will generally require the agency to initiate a review to evaluate whether the beneficiary continues to be disabled under the Social Security Act.
Under the Act, an individual who engages in substantial gainful activity is not disabled. Accordingly, if a beneficiary’s income from an elected position qualifies as substantial gainful activity, then that beneficiary is likely no longer disabled under the Act, regardless of the nature of the work. In addition, earnings from political activity are not typically excepted from SSI income and resource evaluations. Thus, earnings from such political work that fall short of substantial gainful activity may still reduce or eliminate eligibility for SSI.
Regardless of earnings, a beneficiary’s demonstrated ability to work, or perform activities similar to work, may show that the beneficiary no longer meets our standard for disability. Whether campaign activities or the duties performed in elective office demonstrate that the beneficiary is no longer disabled is a fact-specific inquiry, and we are not able to provide you a definitive answer in the abstract. We would have to consider whether the beneficiary’s specific campaign or office activities, among other factors, demonstrate that he or she has the functional ability to work. If he or she does, it is likely the Agency will find that the beneficiary is no longer disabled. Thus, even part-time or unpaid work may result in a termination of disability benefits.
For the reasons discussed above, campaigning for or holding elective office, regardless of whether such position is full-time or paid, may affect a beneficiary’s entitlement or eligibility for both SSI and DIB. As noted above, we would evaluate the impact of those activities and any earnings on a case-by-case basis to determine the impact on any particular beneficiary.”
The Verdict
Unfortunately, the Social Security Administration may view running for office, even if it is part-time, unpaid work, as a sign of medical improvement and use that to decrease a candidate’s social security benefits. Campaign activities may be used as evidence that a disabled person is able to work. If a candidate is elected to office, that elected position is seen as substantial gainful activity. For people who receive SSI, an elected officeholder’s salary, even one that is hundreds to a few thousand dollars per year, will cause additional complications with SSI asset limits ($2,000 per year for individuals and $3,000 per couples).
This rule has wider implications as well. It doesn’t just impact disabled people who want to run for office, but also disabled people who want to volunteer on a campaign, work as a poll worker, or participate in other civic or volunteer opportunities that the Social Security Administration could deem a “sign of medical improvement” or substantial gainful activity, even if those activities are unpaid. In 2019, the Social Security Administration weighed the possibility of monitoring beneficiaries’ social media accounts “in order to root out fraud and abuse.” (As of July 2023, there was no follow-up showing that the SSA decided to implement routine social media monitoring).
However, if you are interested in running for office and these rules impact you, we urge you to talk with a local certified benefits planner who can help you explore your options, such as using a trial work period to run for office if you receive SSDI benefits. Remember, the Social Security Administration makes benefits determinations on a case-by-case basis, and so there is no one-size-fits-all answer on how running for office will impact your benefits. You can find a benefits planner through your local center for independent living.
SSI and SSDI Recipients: Disenfranchised from Elected Office
What does all of this mean? People who receive SSI or SSDI are effectively disenfranchised from holding elected office, even if that position is a local, part-time position that only meets for a few hours a month. This means fewer disabled people have a seat at the table to effect change to the policy decisions that impact our lives. It perpetuates discrimination against disabled people who rely on Medicaid and Social Security to receive home and community-based services. Meanwhile, most SSI and SSDI beneficiaries live in forced poverty thanks to strict rules such as income thresholds and asset limits that haven’t been raised in decades and penalties that reduce or eliminate benefits if a beneficiary gets married. While SSI and SSDI beneficiaries disproportionately experience poverty, they are not allowed to bring their perspectives to the table as lawmakers who have been directly impacted by poverty.
This rule is unacceptable, and since reporting on this issue in 2021, legislators are starting to take notice. For disabled people to have an accessible seat at the table, we need to advocate for change. Next week, we’ll talk about what must be done to change these rules to ensure that all disabled people have the right to run for office.