The federal window is 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., recipient's local time. That's the TCPA quiet-hours rule, and it's measured where the voter is, not where your office is. A 9:15 p.m. send from a West Coast campaign to an East Coast voter is a violation, because it's past 9 p.m. for them.
Some states are tighter
State mini-TCPAs can narrow the window further, Florida, for instance, limits solicitation texts to 8 a.m.-8 p.m. local. A multi-state list has to respect the strictest rule that applies to each recipient, which is why per-recipient enforcement, gating each message to that person's own local time, is the only workable approach.
The practical rule
Don't eyeball it on a spreadsheet. Let the platform evaluate quiet hours per recipient so a single scheduled send reaches each voter only once it's legal where they are. That turns a fifty-state timing problem into one automatic check.
Frequently asked questions
What are the federal quiet hours for texts?
8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the recipient's local time, under the TCPA. Sending automated messages outside that window is a violation.
Do quiet hours follow the campaign or the voter?
The voter. The window is measured in the recipient's local time zone, so a campaign texting across time zones must gate each message to each recipient's clock.
Informational, not legal advice.
Keep reading: Quiet hours run on the voter's clock and The complete TCPA guide.