Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022) 19 Opinion of the Court able to have a level playing field so I could stay in the ball game.”); see also 147 Cong. Rec. S2541 (March 20, 2001) (remarks of Sen. Hutchison) (“Our purpose is to level the playing field.”). That the limit may have been designed to protect incumbents should come as no surprise. Section 304 was enacted as part of the “Millionaire’s Amendment” to BCRA, designed to hobble wealthy candidates mounting self-financed campaigns. See Davis, 554 U. S., at 739. And it was debated together with another provision we have already held unconstitutional, in part because it pursued the same impermissible goal of “level[ing] electoral opportunities for candidates of different personal wealth.” Id., at 741. The connection between these two provisions casts further doubt on the anticorruption interest the Government now asserts in this case. 3 Perhaps to make up for its evidentiary shortcomings, the Government falls back on what it calls a “common sense” analogy: Post-election contributions used to repay a candidate’s loans are akin to a “gift” because they “add to the candidate’s personal wealth” as opposed to the campaign’s treasury. Brief for Appellant 33. The risk of corruption is thus greater, the Government argues, because the donor is lining the pockets of a legislator or legislator-elect. The dissent at multiple points makes the same argument, contending that contributions that go toward repaying a candidate’s loan “enrich the candidate personally,” allowing him to “buy a car or make tuition payments or join a country club.” Post, at 7, 14; see also post, at 2, 3, 8, 13. But this forgets that we are talking about repayment of a loan, not a gift. If the candidate did not have the money to buy a car before he made a loan to his campaign, repayment of the loan would not change that in any way. On top of that, contributions that go toward retiring a