Campaign finance records

Read these four things before quoting a number

1. The coverage period. Every report covers a defined window. A total from one quarter is not a campaign total, and two candidates are comparable only across the same window.
2. The filing status. Reports are amended. An amended report supersedes the original, and a number pulled before an amendment can be out of date.
3. The committee type. A candidate committee, a party committee, and an independent expenditure committee are different entities with different rules.
4. The update boundary. Public data reflects what has been processed. Recent filings may not be reflected in a given view yet.

What campaign finance data does not tell you

• It does not tell you whether a person qualified for a state ballot. That is state law, and the state election authority is the record.
• It does not measure support. Money raised is not votes, and independent spending is not coordination.
• It does not reveal a policy position.
• It does not make a donor a public figure who deserves individual attention on a site like this one.

Independent expenditures, in plain terms

An independent expenditure is spending that expressly advocates for or against a clearly identified candidate and is not coordinated with that candidate or a party committee. Those spenders file their own reports, and the Federal Election Commission publishes them. When coverage attributes outside spending to a candidate, check whether the record shows the candidate's committee or a separate spender.

What we do with this data

We use aggregate committee totals when a page needs them, and we show the coverage period and the filing status alongside any figure. We do not ingest individual contributor records, we do not build donor lists, and we never use contributor data for fundraising or outreach. That rule is part of our editorial standards.