FEC Campaign Finance Data Scraper

Extract US campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) — the official source for candidate filings, committee disclosures, contribution receipts, and expenditure data. This actor replaces OpenSecrets (API discontinued April 2025) and uses the free official FEC public REST API.

What You Get

• Candidates — name, party, office, state, election years, incumbent status, and FEC profile URL
• Committees — PACs, party committees, Super PACs with treasurer, type, designation, and filing info
• Receipts — individual and PAC contributions with contributor info, amounts, dates, and election type
• Disbursements — campaign expenditures with recipient, amount, date, and description
• Candidate Totals — aggregated financial summaries: total raised, total spent, cash on hand per candidate

Data Source

All data is sourced from the official FEC REST API (api.open.fec.gov/v1) maintained by the Federal Election Commission. The API is free to use without registration using the built-in DEMO_KEY (30 requests/hour). Register a free key at api.data.gov for higher rate limits.

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Input

Field	Type	Description
mode	Select	What to fetch: searchCandidates, searchCommittees, receipts, disbursements, candidateTotals
office	Select	Filter by office: P (President), S (Senate), H (House)
electionYear	Select	Filter by election cycle: 2016–2024
party	Select	Filter by party: DEM, REP, IND, LIB, GRN
state	Select	Filter by 2-letter US state abbreviation
contributorState	Select	Filter receipts by contributor's state (mode=receipts only)
committeeType	Select	Filter committees by type — PAC, Super PAC, Party, etc.
apiKey	Text	FEC API key — uses DEMO_KEY by default (30 req/hr). Register at api.data.gov for higher limits.
maxItems	Integer	Maximum records to return (1–2000, default 50)

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Modes

searchCandidates — Search and list candidates

Returns candidates filtered by office, year, party, and state.

{
  "mode": "searchCandidates",
  "office": "P",
  "electionYear": "2024",
  "maxItems": 50
}

searchCommittees — Search political committees

Returns PACs, party committees, Super PACs, and candidate campaign committees.

{
  "mode": "searchCommittees",
  "committeeType": "U",
  "state": "CA",
  "maxItems": 50
}

receipts — Get campaign contribution receipts

Returns individual contributions and PAC receipts with contributor details.

{
  "mode": "receipts",
  "electionYear": "2024",
  "contributorState": "TX",
  "maxItems": 100
}

disbursements — Get campaign expenditures

Returns money spent by campaigns with recipient details and descriptions.

{
  "mode": "disbursements",
  "electionYear": "2024",
  "maxItems": 100
}

candidateTotals — Get campaign finance summaries

Returns aggregated financial totals per candidate including money raised, spent, and cash on hand.

{
  "mode": "candidateTotals",
  "office": "P",
  "electionYear": "2024",
  "maxItems": 50
}

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Output Fields

Candidates

Field	Description
name	Candidate's full name
candidateId	FEC candidate ID (e.g., P80001571)
party	Party code (DEM, REP, IND, etc.)
partyFull	Full party name
office	Office sought (P/S/H)
officeFull	Full office name
state	State abbreviation
district	Congressional district (House candidates)
electionYears	List of election years active
incumbentChallenge	I (Incumbent), C (Challenger), O (Open Seat)
incumbentChallengeFull	Full incumbent/challenger designation
candidateStatus	C (statutory), N (non-statutory), P (pending)
firstFileDate	Date of first FEC filing
url	FEC candidate profile URL

Committees

Field	Description
name	Committee name
committeeId	FEC committee ID (e.g., C00703975)
committeeType	Single-letter type code
committeeTypeFull	Full committee type description
party	Party affiliation
state	State of registration
city	City of registration
zipCode	ZIP code
treasurerName	Committee treasurer
filingFrequency	Filing frequency (M=Monthly, Q=Quarterly, etc.)
designation	Committee designation code
designationFull	Full designation description
url	FEC committee profile URL

Receipts (Contributions)

Field	Description
contributorName	Full contributor name
contributorFirstName	First name
contributorLastName	Last name
contributorCity	City
contributorState	State
contributorZip	ZIP code
contributorEmployer	Employer name
contributorOccupation	Occupation
contributionReceiptAmount	Dollar amount
contributionReceiptDate	Date (YYYY-MM-DD)
recipientName	Receiving committee name
recipientCommitteeId	FEC committee ID of recipient
fecElectionTypeDesc	Election type (PRIMARY, GENERAL, etc.)
reportYear	Report year
transactionId	FEC transaction ID
url	Recipient committee FEC URL

Disbursements (Expenditures)

Field	Description
recipientName	Who received the payment
recipientCity	Recipient city
recipientState	Recipient state
disbursementAmount	Dollar amount
disbursementDate	Date (YYYY-MM-DD)
disbursementDescription	Purpose description
spenderName	Spending committee name
spenderCommitteeId	FEC committee ID of spender
transactionId	FEC transaction ID
url	Spender committee FEC URL

Candidate Totals

Field	Description
name	Candidate name
candidateId	FEC candidate ID
party	Party code
office	Office sought
electionYear	Election cycle year
totalReceipts	Total money raised
totalDisbursements	Total money spent
cashOnHandEndPeriod	Cash on hand at end of period
individualItemizedContributions	Total individual contributions
incumbentChallenge	Incumbent/Challenger/Open
url	FEC candidate profile URL

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Example Output Record (Candidate Total)

{
  "name": "BIDEN, JOSEPH R JR",
  "candidateId": "P80001571",
  "party": "DEM",
  "partyFull": "DEMOCRATIC PARTY",
  "office": "P",
  "officeFull": "President",
  "state": "US",
  "electionYear": 2024,
  "totalReceipts": 123456789.50,
  "totalDisbursements": 98765432.10,
  "cashOnHandEndPeriod": 24691357.40,
  "incumbentChallenge": "I",
  "incumbentChallengeFull": "Incumbent",
  "url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/P80001571/",
  "recordType": "candidateTotals",
  "scrapedAt": "2025-05-25T10:30:00+00:00"
}

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Use Cases

• Political research — Track campaign finance activity across elections and candidates
• Journalism — Investigate donor networks, PAC spending, and campaign war chests
• Compliance monitoring — Track competitor or allied committee spending
• Academic research — Analyze fundraising patterns, party spending, and donor geography
• Civic tech — Build donor lookup tools or campaign finance dashboards
• Lobbying intelligence — Monitor industry PAC contributions to key legislators

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Rate Limits

The default DEMO_KEY allows 30 requests per hour. For higher throughput:

1. Register a free API key at api.data.gov
2. Enter your key in the apiKey field
3. The actor automatically slows requests when using DEMO_KEY to stay within limits

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FAQ

Q: Is registration required? No. The DEMO_KEY works out of the box with no signup required.

Q: How current is the data? FEC data is updated as committees submit filings. Major committees file monthly or quarterly; others file around election deadlines.

Q: What do committee type codes mean?

• P — Presidential campaign committee
• H — House campaign committee
• S — Senate campaign committee
• Q — Qualified PAC
• U — Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only)
• X / Y — Party committees (non-qualified / qualified)

Q: What are incumbent challenge codes?

• I — Incumbent
• C — Challenger
• O — Open seat (no incumbent running)

Q: Can I filter receipts by contributor? Currently you can filter by contributor state. Additional filters may be added in future versions.

Q: What years of data are available? The FEC API includes data back to the 1970s. Election years available: 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024.