# FEC Campaign Finance Scraper (`parselab/fec-campaign-finance-scraper`) Actor

Search US federal campaign finance records: candidate fundraising totals, PAC and committee finances, contribution breakdowns by state and size, filed reports, committee spending and Super PAC independent expenditures. Filter by office, state, party and election cycle and export to CSV or Excel.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parselab/fec-campaign-finance-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseLab](https://apify.com/parselab) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $22.50 / 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## FEC Campaign Finance Scraper

This FEC campaign finance scraper collects official US federal election finance data in six modes: candidate fundraising totals, committee and PAC finances, contribution breakdowns by state and size, filed reports, committee spending and Super PAC independent expenditures. Pick a mode, add a few filters and get a clean table you can sort, chart or export.

Journalists, political researchers, campaign staff and advocacy groups use it to follow the money without paging through the FEC website.

### What can you do with this FEC scraper?

- See how much a federal candidate raised, spent and has on hand
- Search FEC candidates by name, office, state or party
- Get a PAC or committee's total receipts and disbursements
- Find where a committee's contributions come from, by state
- See how a committee's donations split by amount
- List every report a committee has filed, with links to the PDF
- See what a committee paid vendors for
- Track Super PAC spending that supports or opposes a candidate
- Export FEC data to CSV or Excel

### Six modes

| Mode | What you get | Needs Committee IDs |
|---|---|---|
| **Candidate Totals** | Raised, spent, cash on hand and debts per candidate and cycle | No |
| **Committee/PAC Totals** | Receipts, disbursements, contributions, cash and debts per cycle | Yes |
| **Contribution Summary** | Number of contributors and dollars by state and by donation size | Yes |
| **Filings** | Every report filed: form type, coverage dates, cash on hand, PDF link | Yes |
| **Disbursements** | Who a committee paid, how much and why | Yes |
| **Independent Expenditures** | Outside spending for or against a candidate, with the ad vendor | Optional |

### What data can you extract from the FEC?

| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| `candidateName`, `party`, `office`, `state`, `district`, `candidateId` | Candidate profile |
| `receipts`, `disbursements`, `cashOnHand`, `debtsOwed` | Money totals |
| `committeeId`, `committeeName`, `committeeType`, `designation` | Committee profile |
| `contributorCount`, `totalAmount`, `stateFull`, `sizeBucketLabel` | Contribution breakdowns |
| `formType`, `reportType`, `receiptDate`, `coverageStartDate`, `coverageEndDate`, `pdfUrl` | Filing details |
| `recipientName`, `purposeCategory`, `amount`, `date`, `description` | Disbursement details |
| `spenderCommitteeName`, `supportOrOppose`, `candidateName`, `payeeName` | Independent expenditure details |
| `recordUrl` | Link to the record on fec.gov |

### How to scrape FEC campaign finance data

1. Choose a **Record Type**.
2. For candidate searches, type a name and optionally choose office, state, party or election cycle.
3. For all other modes, paste one or more committee IDs, for example `C00401224`. You can find IDs on the FEC committee search page.
4. Click **Start** and export the dataset as CSV, Excel or from the Apify console.

### Input example

```json
{
  "recordType": "independent_expenditure",
  "cycle": 2026,
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

### Output examples

Committee totals:

```json
{
  "recordType": "committee",
  "committeeId": "C00401224",
  "committeeName": "ACTBLUE",
  "cycle": 2026,
  "receipts": 2074564660.18,
  "disbursements": 2092645647.11,
  "cashOnHand": 81851444.06,
  "coverageEndDate": "2026-07-31T00:00:00"
}
```

Independent expenditure:

```json
{
  "recordType": "independent_expenditure",
  "spenderCommitteeName": "ASIANS AMERICAN FOR REPRESENTATION",
  "candidateName": "CHAN, CONNIE",
  "supportOrOppose": "Support",
  "amount": 5000,
  "description": "DIGITAL ADVERTISING",
  "payeeName": "QUICKSILVER"
}
```

### How much does it cost to scrape the FEC?

You pay per result: $30 per 1,000 results plus a tiny start fee. The free plan returns up to 10 results per run.

### Why individual donor names are not included

Federal law restricts selling or commercially using the names and addresses of individual contributors that appear on FEC reports. To stay on the right side of that rule, the contribution mode returns totals by state and donation size only. Committee-to-vendor spending, filings and outside spending have no such restriction and are fully included.

### Who uses campaign finance data?

- **Reporters** check who is funding a campaign and how much is coming from outside groups.
- **Researchers** compare fundraising across races and cycles.
- **Campaign and advocacy teams** track opponents' cash on hand.
- **Watchdog groups** monitor Super PAC spending.

### FAQ

**Do I need an FEC account?**
No. The Actor works without any login.

**Which election cycles are covered?**
Two-year cycles such as 2024 and 2026. Leave the cycle empty to see all available cycles for candidates and committees.

**Why did my disbursement search only show one cycle?**
Large committees have millions of records, so disbursements and independent expenditures default to the current cycle. Set the cycle to look further back.

**Where do I get a committee ID?**
On the FEC website, search for the committee. The ID starts with the letter C.

### Automate and connect

Schedule the Actor from the Apify console to refresh the data daily or weekly. Send finished datasets to Google Sheets, Zapier, Make or n8n, or trigger a webhook when a run ends, so your reports and alerts update without manual work.

### Legal note

This Actor collects information that is publicly visible on the website. Check the source site's terms and your local rules before using the data. Do not use FEC data to solicit contributions.

### Support

Missing a field or found a bug? Open an issue from the Actor page.

# Actor input Schema

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000.

## `apiKey` (type: `string`):

Optional. Free key from https://api.data.gov/signup/. If left empty, the Actor uses its own pooled keys (rotating automatically on rate limits); if those are unavailable, falls back to the shared DEMO\_KEY (40 calls/hour).

## `recordType` (type: `string`):

Candidate: fundraising totals by name/filters. Committee: a PAC/committee's financial totals (needs Committee IDs). Contribution Summary: aggregate contribution breakdowns by state/size (needs Committee IDs, no individual donor names — see fec.gov/updates/sale-or-use-contributor-information). Filing: reports filed by a committee (needs Committee IDs). Disbursement: what a committee spent money on - vendors, payees (needs Committee IDs). Independent Expenditure: money spent independently supporting/opposing candidates, e.g. Super PAC ads (Committee IDs optional).

## `query` (type: `string`):

Search candidates by name, e.g. 'warren' or 'trump'. Used only when Record Type is Candidate. Leave empty to browse by filters only.

## `committeeIds` (type: `array`):

Exact FEC committee IDs (e.g. 'C00401224' for ActBlue). Required for Committee, Contribution Summary, Filing and Disbursement. Optional filter for Independent Expenditure (the spending committee/Super PAC). Look them up at https://www.fec.gov/data/committees/

## `office` (type: `string`):

Federal office sought.

## `state` (type: `string`):

Two-letter US state code, e.g. 'CA', 'TX'. Leave empty for all states.

## `party` (type: `string`):

Party abbreviation, e.g. 'DEM', 'REP', 'IND', 'LIB', 'GRE'.

## `cycle` (type: `integer`):

Two-year election cycle, e.g. 2024, 2026. Leave empty for all cycles (Candidate/Committee/Filing). Defaults to the current cycle for Disbursement/Independent Expenditure (unbounded queries on large committees time out server-side).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "recordType": "candidate",
  "committeeIds": []
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "maxItems": 10,
    "committeeIds": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parselab/fec-campaign-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "maxItems": 10,
    "committeeIds": [],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parselab/fec-campaign-finance-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "committeeIds": []
}' |
apify call parselab/fec-campaign-finance-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parselab/fec-campaign-finance-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/F9l2otUiLYJzXgmiH/builds/qG3tOHfuixpBcy1u1/openapi.json