Cite as: 609 U. S. ____ (2026) 7 Opinion of the Court campaigns. See Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 39–59 (1976) (per curiam); Colorado I, 518 U. S., at 616 (opinion of Breyer, J.). The question here concerns FECA’s limits on spending by political parties in coordination with candidates. For example, a political party may spend money to produce and place a television advertisement in support of a candidate after consulting with the candidate’s campaign about the content, timing, or placement of the advertisement. A In tension with the text of the First Amendment, FECA limits political-party coordinated expenditures and thus restricts political parties’ speech in support of their own candidates during political campaigns. To understand the severity of the First Amendment problem caused by that restriction, one must first appreciate the important and traditional role of political parties during campaigns. Political parties articulate policy positions and platforms; select candidates through a primary or caucus process; and then support the election of those candidates in general election campaigns. Because a political party’s “success or failure depends in large part on whether its candidates get elected,” it is “natural for a party and its candidate to work together and consult with one another during the course of the election.” Federal Election Comm’n v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Comm., 533 U. S. 431, 469 (2001) (Colorado II) (THOMAS, J., dissenting). Indeed, as Justice Kennedy described, it “would be impractical and imprudent, to say the least, for a party to support its own candidates without some form of ‘cooperation’ or ‘consultation.’ ” Colorado I, 518 U. S., at 630. After all, “candidates are necessary to make the party’s message known and effective, and vice versa.” Id., at 629. In a campaign, the coordination between party and candidate may encompass the what, when, where, how, and