# FEC Federal Candidate Finance Scraper — Receipts & Cash (`compute-edge/fec-candidates-finance-scraper`) Actor Extract every federal candidate's campaign finance totals from the FEC — receipts, disbursements, cash on hand, debts, individual itemized contributions, party committee transfers. Filter by cycle, office, state, party, candidate status. - **URL**: https://apify.com/compute-edge/fec-candidates-finance-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Compute Edge](https://apify.com/compute-edge) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## FEC Federal Candidate Finance Scraper Extract **every federal candidate's campaign finance totals** from the Federal Election Commission's official API (api.open.fec.gov) — receipts, disbursements, cash on hand, debts, individual itemized contributions, party committee transfers, principal committees, and candidacy status. Filter by election cycle, office (President / Senate / House), state, district, party, candidate name, or status code. This is the primary-source FEC data that powers Politico, OpenSecrets, FollowTheMoney, and every political-finance reporter and PAC. Records update nightly as new filings come in. ### Data fields | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | `candidateId` | FEC candidate ID (e.g. `P40014052`) | | `name` | Candidate name | | `party`, `office`, `state`, `district` | Political identity & seat | | `cycle`, `electionYear` | Election cycle | | `incumbentChallenge` | Incumbent / Challenger / Open seat | | `candidateStatus` | Statutory / Future / Prior / Not yet | | `hasRaisedFunds` | Has raised any reportable funds | | `receipts` | Total receipts ($) | | `disbursements` | Total disbursements ($) | | `cashOnHandEndPeriod` | Cash on hand at last coverage end ($) | | `debtsOwedByCommittee` | Outstanding debts ($) | | `individualItemizedContributions` | Itemized individual contributions ($) | | `otherPoliticalCommitteeContributions` | PAC contributions ($) | | `partyCommitteeContributions` | Party committee contributions ($) | | `transfersFromOtherAuthorizedCommittee` | Joint fundraising transfers ($) | | `coverageStartDate`, `coverageEndDate` | Period covered | | `firstFileDate`, `lastFileDate` | Filing history | | `address` | Candidate's filed mailing address | | `principalCommittees` | Linked principal campaign committee(s) | ### How to scrape FEC campaign finance data 1. Set the `cycle` (default `2026`). 2. *(Optional)* `office`: `P`, `S`, or `H`. 3. *(Optional)* `state` (two-letter), `district`, `party` (`DEM`, `REP`, `LIB`, etc.). 4. *(Optional)* `candidateName` for full-text search. 5. *(Optional)* `sortBy`: `-receipts`, `-disbursements`, `-cash_on_hand_end_period`, or any FEC sortable field. 6. *(Recommended)* Provide your own `apiKey` from https://api.data.gov/signup/ to avoid the shared DEMO_KEY rate limit. 7. Set `maxResults`. 8. Click **Start**. ### Pricing Pay-per-result: **$0.003 per candidate record**. ### Input example ```json { "cycle": 2026, "office": "S", "state": "PA", "sortBy": "-receipts", "maxResults": 50 } ```` ### Output example ```json { "candidateId": "H6AL05210", "name": "HOWARD, GREG MR JR", "party": "DEM", "office": "House", "state": "AL", "district": "05", "cycle": 2026, "receipts": 25000, "disbursements": 2189.95, "cashOnHandEndPeriod": 586.28, "candidateStatus": "N", "incumbentChallenge": "Challenger" } ``` ### Use cases - **Political journalism**: identify top-raising candidates, surface late entrants, track cash-on-hand by race. - **Polling / pollster targeting**: build call lists for candidate committees by state/office/cycle. - **PAC & vendor business development**: prospect campaigns by spending tier and party. - **Academic political science**: bulk panel data on candidate financial trajectories. - **Compliance / opposition research**: pull all filings by a single candidate or committee. ### FAQ **Do I need an API key?** Optional. Without one, this Actor uses the shared `DEMO_KEY` (~30 req/hr, ~50 req/day). For unlimited use, get a free key at https://api.data.gov/signup/ — takes 30 seconds. **Does this include individual donor names?** No — this Actor returns candidate-level financial totals. For contributor-level data, FEC publishes separate endpoints; we can build a sibling Actor on request. **How current is the data?** FEC updates nightly. Each Actor run hits the live API. ### Legal Data sourced from the U.S. Federal Election Commission (api.open.fec.gov), a US Government public dataset. All campaign finance records are public by law (FECA, 52 U.S.C. § 30104). No authentication bypass. # Actor input Schema ## `cycle` (type: `integer`): Two-year election cycle (e.g. 2024, 2026, 2028). ## `office` (type: `string`): Office sought. Leave blank for all. ## `state` (type: `string`): Two-letter US state code (e.g. 'CA', 'TX', 'NY'). Leave blank for all. ## `party` (type: `string`): Party abbreviation (e.g. 'DEM', 'REP', 'LIB', 'GRE', 'IND'). Leave blank for all. ## `candidateName` (type: `string`): Full-text search over candidate names. ## `candidateStatus` (type: `string`): Status code: 'C' (statutory candidate), 'F' (future candidate), 'N' (not yet a candidate), 'P' (prior candidate). Leave blank for all. ## `electionFullOnly` (type: `boolean`): If enabled, aggregate totals across the full election cycle (recommended). Disable to see per-period totals. ## `sortBy` (type: `string`): Sort key. Prefix '-' for descending. Common: '-receipts', '-disbursements', '-cash\_on\_hand\_end\_period', 'name'. ## `apiKey` (type: `string`): Optional. Leave blank to use shared DEMO\_KEY (limited to ~30 requests/hour). Get a free unlimited key at https://api.data.gov/signup/ ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of candidate records to return. 0 = unlimited. ## Actor input object example ```json { "cycle": 2026, "office": "", "state": "", "party": "", "candidateName": "", "candidateStatus": "", "electionFullOnly": true, "sortBy": "-receipts", "maxResults": 100 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `dataset` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("compute-edge/fec-candidates-finance-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("compute-edge/fec-candidates-finance-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{}' | apify call compute-edge/fec-candidates-finance-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=compute-edge/fec-candidates-finance-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "FEC Federal Candidate Finance Scraper — Receipts & Cash", "description": "Extract every federal candidate's campaign finance totals from the FEC — receipts, disbursements, cash on hand, debts, individual itemized contributions, party committee transfers. Filter by cycle, office, state, party, candidate status.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "zBcbXMwMZYPrGDzsJ" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/compute-edge~fec-candidates-finance-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-compute-edge-fec-candidates-finance-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/compute-edge~fec-candidates-finance-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-compute-edge-fec-candidates-finance-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/compute-edge~fec-candidates-finance-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-compute-edge-fec-candidates-finance-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "cycle": { "title": "Election Cycle", "minimum": 1980, "maximum": 2100, "type": "integer", "description": "Two-year election cycle (e.g. 2024, 2026, 2028).", "default": 2026 }, "office": { "title": "Office", "enum": [ "", "P", "S", "H" ], "type": "string", "description": "Office sought. Leave blank for all.", "default": "" }, "state": { "title": "State", "type": "string", "description": "Two-letter US state code (e.g. 'CA', 'TX', 'NY'). Leave blank for all.", "default": "" }, "party": { "title": "Party", "type": "string", "description": "Party abbreviation (e.g. 'DEM', 'REP', 'LIB', 'GRE', 'IND'). Leave blank for all.", "default": "" }, "candidateName": { "title": "Candidate Name", "type": "string", "description": "Full-text search over candidate names.", "default": "" }, "candidateStatus": { "title": "Candidate Status", "enum": [ "", "C", "F", "N", "P" ], "type": "string", "description": "Status code: 'C' (statutory candidate), 'F' (future candidate), 'N' (not yet a candidate), 'P' (prior candidate). Leave blank for all.", "default": "" }, "electionFullOnly": { "title": "Election-Full Totals Only", "type": "boolean", "description": "If enabled, aggregate totals across the full election cycle (recommended). Disable to see per-period totals.", "default": true }, "sortBy": { "title": "Sort By", "type": "string", "description": "Sort key. Prefix '-' for descending. Common: '-receipts', '-disbursements', '-cash_on_hand_end_period', 'name'.", "default": "-receipts" }, "apiKey": { "title": "FEC / api.data.gov API Key", "type": "string", "description": "Optional. Leave blank to use shared DEMO_KEY (limited to ~30 requests/hour). Get a free unlimited key at https://api.data.gov/signup/" }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 50000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of candidate records to return. 0 = unlimited.", "default": 100 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```