FEC Campaign Finance Search - 50M+ Donations, PACs, Candidate Fundraising Data

Search Federal Election Commission campaign finance data. Find candidates, PACs, Super PACs, individual donors, political contributions, and committee spending. Data from the official OpenFEC API covering elections from 1979 to present.

What data can you get?

Candidates

Search for political candidates by name, party, state, or office. Returns candidate ID, party affiliation, office sought, election cycles, and fundraising status.

Committees (PACs & Super PACs)

Search for political committees including PACs, Super PACs, party committees, and campaign committees. Returns committee type, designation, treasurer, and associated candidates.

Individual Contributions (Donors)

Search individual political donations by contributor name, employer, state, or minimum amount. Returns donor name, employer, occupation, contribution amount, date, and the committee/candidate receiving the donation. Over 50 million records available.

Disbursements (Spending)

Search committee spending by recipient name, state, or minimum amount. Returns recipient, amount, date, description, and the spending committee/candidate.

Example use cases

• Journalism: "Who are the top donors to [candidate]?"
• Compliance: Verify political contribution disclosures
• Research: Analyze donation patterns by industry, state, or amount
• Opposition research: Track PAC spending and donor networks
• Business intelligence: Identify politically active companies and executives

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
Search Type	select	candidates, committees, contributions, or disbursements
Search Query	string	Name to search (candidate, committee, donor, or recipient)
State	string	Two-letter state code (e.g. "CA", "TX")
Party	string	Party code: DEM, REP, LIB, GRE
Office	string	For candidates: P (President), S (Senate), H (House)
Election Cycle	integer	Even year: 2024, 2022, 2020
Min Amount	integer	Minimum dollar amount (contributions/disbursements only)
Max Results	integer	1-5,000 (default 50)
API Key	string	Optional. Free key from https://api.data.gov/signup/ for higher rate limits

Example: Search for candidates

{
    "searchType": "candidates",
    "query": "Trump",
    "office": "P",
    "cycle": 2024
}

Example: Find individual donors

{
    "searchType": "contributions",
    "query": "Elon Musk",
    "cycle": 2024,
    "minAmount": 1000
}

Example: Search PACs and Super PACs

{
    "searchType": "committees",
    "query": "America First"
}

Example: Track committee spending

{
    "searchType": "disbursements",
    "query": "Meta Platforms",
    "cycle": 2024,
    "minAmount": 10000
}

Output format

Results are returned as JSON objects. The fields vary by search type:

Candidates: candidateId, name, party, partyFull, office, officeFull, state, district, status, cycles, hasRaisedFunds

Committees: committeeId, name, committeeType, committeeTypeFull, designation, party, state, treasurerName, candidateIds, cycles

Contributions: contributorName, contributorCity, contributorState, contributorEmployer, contributorOccupation, amount, receiptDate, committeeName, candidateName

Disbursements: recipientName, recipientCity, recipientState, disbursementAmount, disbursementDate, disbursementDescription, committeeName, candidateName

Example output (contributions search)

{
    "contributorName": "MUSK, ELON",
    "contributorCity": "AUSTIN",
    "contributorState": "TX",
    "contributorEmployer": "SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES",
    "contributorOccupation": "CEO",
    "amount": 5000,
    "receiptDate": "2024-06-15",
    "committeeName": "AMERICA PAC",
    "candidateName": null
}

Rate limits

The default demo key allows 40 requests/hour. For heavier usage, get a free API key at https://api.data.gov/signup/ (takes 30 seconds, provides 1,000 requests/hour).

Data source

All data comes from the Federal Election Commission's OpenFEC API. This is official, public government data updated nightly. No authentication required for basic usage.

Integrations

Connect this actor with Apify integrations to export data to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, GitHub, and more. Schedule recurring runs to track campaign finance changes over time.

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