About Who Funds Congress
Understanding campaign finance data
Our Mission
Who Funds Congress is a campaign finance transparency project that makes Federal Election Commission (FEC) data accessible and easy to understand. We believe that informed citizens are essential to a healthy democracy, and understanding who funds political campaigns is a critical part of civic engagement.
Data Source
All data on this site comes from the Federal Election Commission, the independent regulatory agency responsible for administering and enforcing federal campaign finance law in the United States. The FEC makes campaign finance data publicly available through its open API.
How Campaign Finance Works
Candidates for federal office (President, Senate, and House of Representatives) must report their campaign finances to the FEC. Key terms include:
- Receipts (Total Raised): The total amount of money a campaign has received from all sources, including individual donations, PAC contributions, party contributions, and the candidate's own funds.
- Disbursements (Total Spent): The total amount of money a campaign has spent, including advertising, staff, travel, and other campaign expenses.
- Individual Contributions: Donations from individual people. Federal law limits individual contributions to $3,300 per candidate per election (2024 cycle).
- PAC Contributions: Donations from Political Action Committees. These are organizations that pool contributions from members to donate to campaigns. PACs can contribute up to $5,000 per candidate per election.
- Cash on Hand: The amount of money a campaign has remaining at the end of a reporting period.
- Incumbent: The current officeholder running for re-election.
- Challenger: A candidate running against the incumbent.
- Open Seat: A race where no incumbent is running.
Data Freshness
The data on this site reflects FEC filings for the 2024 election cycle. Campaign finance reports are filed periodically throughout the election cycle. Our data represents the most recent totals available at the time of our last data update. For the most current filings, please visit FEC.gov directly.
Methodology
We collect data for all federal candidates who have raised funds during the 2024 election cycle. Our process:
- We query the FEC API for all Senate, House, and Presidential candidates with reported fundraising activity.
- We aggregate data by state, party, and office to provide comparative analysis.
- Rankings are based on reported totals from FEC filings.
- Dollar amounts are rounded for readability but exact figures are available on individual candidate pages.
Important Disclaimer
This site presents publicly available FEC data for educational purposes. We are not affiliated with any political party, candidate, or government agency. The information provided does not constitute an endorsement of any candidate or party. Campaign finance data may not reflect the full picture of a candidate's support or effectiveness. We encourage users to consider multiple sources of information when evaluating candidates.
Contact
For questions about the data or this site, please note that this is a publicly available informational resource. For official campaign finance inquiries, please contact the FEC directly.