You might have heard there’s an election this year. We’re not talking about the presidential contest; we’re talking about the various D.C. Council races in our own backyard. The June 2 primary is less than 12 weeks away and, as far as the local legislature is concerned, six out of 13 seats are up for grabs.

While incumbents devastated the competition in the 2018 primary, 2020 could be different. In the at-large race, it’s basically a free-for-all for the non-majority-party seat currently held by David Grosso, who announced last year that he wouldn’t seek reelection in the general on November 3. So far, about a dozen candidates, including independents, a Republican, and a Libertarian, have entered the competition for the citywide seat, and more are expected to join in the coming weeks. (Meanwhile, the second at-large seat available this year is currently held by Democrat Robert White, who is set to keep it, considering the fact that he does not face any challengers in the primary and D.C. leans heavily blue.)

There are also contested races in Wards 2, 4, 7, and 8, with those in Wards 2 and 4 anticipated to be particularly competitive: The former is a crowded race for an open seat because of the January resignation of ex-councilmember Jack Evans (who is actually running in the race), whereas the latter has narrowed to a tight field.

The major difference from 2018 is the District’s new public elections financing program, which began in earnest in 2019. The program is meant to help first-time and non-establishment candidates fundraise by letting them bolster small-dollar donations with start-up and matching funds provided by the city. The program imposes limits on maximum individual donation amounts, bans corporate contributions, and caps the government funds a participating candidate may receive. It has a present budget of around $3 million and requires candidates to meet specified thresholds for number of donors as well as contribution totals before they are certified for participation.

And according to new data from the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance, which oversees the program, more than $1.2 million in public funding has already been distributed for the entire 2020 election cycle, including both the primary and general elections, with a dozen candidates certified as of March 10. (The money count also includes public funds dispersed to two of the candidates in the special election to fill Evans’ old seat, being held June 16.) Nearly 4,300 small-dollar contributions have been recorded for the candidates enrolled in the program, per OCF.

Those numbers are up from approximately $734,000 in total funds paid out and 3,300 small-dollar contributions registered in this program as of late January, representing increases of about 67 percent and 35 percent. Notably, there are more candidates signed up for the program than the 12 who have been certified (one of whom dropped out of the Ward 4 race last week). Supporters of the program say public funding helps first-time candidates mount serious campaigns—the extent to which that claim will hold up over the course of the 2020 elections is yet to be seen.

As of now, OCF says over 30 of more than 60 total candidates are fundraising under the traditional rules. The means they’re allowed to collect higher individual contributions, including from companies and PACs, as well as greater campaign loans from candidates and their immediate family members.

Although they voted for establishing the program in 2018, all council incumbents—with the exception of Ward 8’s Trayon White—are raising money in the traditional manner. That includes Ward 4’s Brandon Todd, Ward 7’s Vince Gray, and At-Large Councilmember Robert White. (Evans, the erstwhile Ward 2 councilmember who’s running for his old seat, is participating in public financing and technically isn’t an incumbent.) And based on the latest campaign finance reports, which were due to OCF March 10, those who chose not to go the public financing route have hauled in quite a lot. Todd, for one, has raised roughly $453,000 since officially declaring—a large sum for a ward race.

Candidates hoping to jump in the at-large race for the non-majority party seat (Grosso’s) have until August 5 to submit nominating petitions to the D.C. Board of Elections and also to qualify for the public financing program.