Campaign Finance & Lobbying Digest | FEC + LDA Watch

Automate your organization's legal and compliance oversight by tracking federal campaign finance and lobbying activity as soon as official filings are published online. This web scraper is designed to bypass the manual friction of searching through complex government databases, directly extracting structured compliance data from the Federal Election Commission (OpenFEC) and Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) portals. Corporate legal departments and compliance teams use these tools to set up automated daily or weekly runs, continuously monitoring target entities and specific committees for new disclosures. Simply input a custom keyword watchlist, and the scraper will systematically crawl the official web pages for exact compliance terms, extracting vital details like agency names, filing dates, docket numbers, transaction amounts, and direct source URLs. Because political spending and regulatory filings move quickly, this scraper empowers operations teams to trigger immediate webhook alerts via email or messaging apps the exact second a relevant federal filing drops. Integrate the scraped results seamlessly into your internal risk management dashboards to maintain a permanent, auditable record of competitor advocacy, PAC affiliations, and corporate lobbying expenditures without dedicating staff to tedious manual website checks.

Store Quickstart

Run this actor with your target input. Results appear in the Apify Dataset and can be piped to webhooks for real-time delivery. Use dryRun to validate before committing to a schedule.

Key Features

• 🏛️ Government-sourced — Pulls directly from official agency feeds — no third-party aggregators
• ⏱️ Timely digests — Daily/weekly rollups of new filings, rulings, or actions
• 🔍 Keyword watchlists — Flag items matching your compliance/legal watch terms
• 📊 Structured metadata — Agency, date, docket, document type, link — all dataset-ready
• 📡 Webhook alerts — Push to legal/compliance teams the moment new items match watchlist

Use Cases

Who	Why
Developers	Automate recurring data fetches without building custom scrapers
Data teams	Pipe structured output into analytics warehouses
Ops teams	Monitor changes via webhook alerts
Product managers	Track competitor/market signals without engineering time

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
feeds	array	prefilled	One digest row is emitted per configured feed. Use lda_filings for anonymous/no-key quickstarts. Use fec_committee when
watchTerms	string	—	Comma- or newline-separated terms. Matching committees, clients, issues, or agencies elevate digests to action_needed.
lookbackDays	integer	45	Default lookback window used when a feed-specific override is not provided.
maxEvidencePerFeed	integer	25	Upper bound on normalized evidence items retained for each feed.
maxPagesPerFeed	integer	2	Upper bound on paginated API requests per feed during one run.
delivery	string	"dataset"	dataset writes digest rows to the Apify dataset. webhook POSTs the digest payload to webhookUrl.
webhookUrl	string	—	POST target used when delivery=webhook.
datasetMode	string	"all"	Choose whether dataset/webhook delivery includes all digests, only action-needed digests, or only feeds with new evidenc

Input Example

{
  "feeds": [
    {
      "id": "google-lobbying",
      "name": "Google Lobbying Filings",
      "source": "lda_filings",
      "clientName": "Google"
    }
  ],
  "lookbackDays": 45,
  "maxEvidencePerFeed": 25,
  "maxPagesPerFeed": 2,
  "delivery": "dataset",
  "datasetMode": "all",
  "snapshotKey": "campaign-finance-lobbying-digest-state",
  "requestTimeoutSeconds": 30,
  "notifyOnNoNew": true,
  "dryRun": false
}

Input Examples

Example: Single-target audit

{
  "targets": [
    "example-target-1"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerTarget": 30
}

Example: Bulk portfolio

{
  "targets": [
    "target-1",
    "target-2",
    "target-3"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerTarget": 50,
  "snapshotKey": "campaign-finance-lobbying-digest-state"
}

Example: Recurring delta watch

{
  "targets": [
    "target-1"
  ],
  "snapshotKey": "campaign-finance-lobbying-digest-state",
  "emitChangedOnly": true
}

Output

Field	Type	Description
meta	object
errors	array
digests	array
digests[].feedId	string
digests[].feedName	string
digests[].source	string
digests[].checkedAt	timestamp
digests[].status	string
digests[].newEvidenceCount	number
digests[].totalEvidenceCount	number
digests[].latestEvidenceAt	timestamp
digests[].changedSinceLastRun	boolean
digests[].changeReasons	array
digests[].actionNeeded	boolean
digests[].recommendedAction	string
digests[].trackedEntity	object
digests[].summaryMetrics	object
digests[].signalTags	array
digests[].watchTermHits	array
digests[].highlights	array
digests[].evidence	array
digests[].error	null

Output Example

{
  "meta": {
    "generatedAt": "2026-04-06T11:48:58.577Z",
    "now": "2026-04-25T00:00:00.000Z",
    "feedCount": 2,
    "totalEvidenceCount": 2,
    "newEvidenceCount": 2,
    "actionNeededCount": 2,
    "errorCount": 0,
    "snapshot": {
      "key": "campaign-finance-sample",
      "loadedFrom": "local",
      "savedTo": "local"
    },
    "warnings": [],
    "executiveSummary": {
      "overallStatus": "action_needed",
      "brief": "2 feed(s) require review based on new filings, amendments, or watch-term hits.",
      "actionItems": [
        "Review 2 action-needed feed(s): Clean Energy PAC, Solar Lobbying Feed",
        "Assess watch-term hits: Solar",
        "2 new filing(s) arrived — capture material committee or lobbying changes before the next cycle review"
      ],
      "watchTermHits": [
        {
          "term": "Solar",
          "evidenceId": "lda:lda-1002",
          "title": "LD-1 Amendment • Policy Advocates LLC / Solar Storage Coalition",
          "filedAt": "2026-04-18T00:00:00.000Z",
          "target": "Policy Advocates LLC / Solar Storage Coalition",
          "url": "https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/lda-1002"
        }
      ],
      "feedStatuses": [
        {
          "feedId": "clean-energy-pac",
          "feedName": "Clean Energy PAC",
          "source": "fec_committee",
          "status": "action_needed",
          "newEvidenceCount": 1,

API Usage

Run this actor programmatically using the Apify API. Replace YOUR_API_TOKEN with your token from Apify Console → Settings → Integrations.

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/taroyamada~campaign-finance-lobbying-digest/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "feeds": [ { "id": "google-lobbying", "name": "Google Lobbying Filings", "source": "lda_filings", "clientName": "Google" } ], "lookbackDays": 45, "maxEvidencePerFeed": 25, "maxPagesPerFeed": 2, "delivery": "dataset", "datasetMode": "all", "snapshotKey": "campaign-finance-lobbying-digest-state", "requestTimeoutSeconds": 30, "notifyOnNoNew": true, "dryRun": false }'

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("taroyamada/campaign-finance-lobbying-digest").call(run_input={
  "feeds": [
    {
      "id": "google-lobbying",
      "name": "Google Lobbying Filings",
      "source": "lda_filings",
      "clientName": "Google"
    }
  ],
  "lookbackDays": 45,
  "maxEvidencePerFeed": 25,
  "maxPagesPerFeed": 2,
  "delivery": "dataset",
  "datasetMode": "all",
  "snapshotKey": "campaign-finance-lobbying-digest-state",
  "requestTimeoutSeconds": 30,
  "notifyOnNoNew": true,
  "dryRun": false
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

JavaScript / Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('taroyamada/campaign-finance-lobbying-digest').call({
  "feeds": [
    {
      "id": "google-lobbying",
      "name": "Google Lobbying Filings",
      "source": "lda_filings",
      "clientName": "Google"
    }
  ],
  "lookbackDays": 45,
  "maxEvidencePerFeed": 25,
  "maxPagesPerFeed": 2,
  "delivery": "dataset",
  "datasetMode": "all",
  "snapshotKey": "campaign-finance-lobbying-digest-state",
  "requestTimeoutSeconds": 30,
  "notifyOnNoNew": true,
  "dryRun": false
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Tips & Limitations

• Run daily for active watchlists; weekly for passive monitoring.
• Webhook delivery works well for compliance team Slack channels — include docket URL for 1-click access.
• Use watchKeywords generously — false positives are cheap to triage, false negatives miss filings.
• Pair with regulatory-change-monitor for cross-agency coverage.
• Archive Dataset rows weekly for long-term compliance evidence retention.

FAQ

How far back does history go?

This actor monitors forward-only — new items since first run. For historical data, use the agency's own search tool.

What timezones are used?

All timestamps are UTC. Use your downstream pipeline to convert to agency-local time if needed.

Does it translate non-English content?

No — original language is preserved. Use downstream translation services if needed.

Is the data official?

Yes — sourced directly from official government websites and feeds. Not a third-party aggregator.

Can I use this for legal research?

For alerting and monitoring, yes. For litigation research, cross-verify with primary sources (agency websites) — this actor is a monitoring tool, not a legal database.

Related Actors

Government & Regulatory cluster — explore related Apify tools:

• EPA Enforcement Digest | ECHO Compliance Risk Monitor — Monitor EPA ECHO all-media facility search, corporate compliance screener, and enforcement case feeds with one summary-first digest row per watched company, facility, or case feed.
• FDA Warning Letters Digest | Summary-First Feed — Monitor public FDA warning letters with one summary-first digest row per configured feed.
• Federal Register Digest | Agency Rule & Notice Monitor — Monitor Federal Register documents — rules, proposed rules, and notices — per configured agency feed.
• Government Contract Award Monitor | Award & Competitor Watch — Monitor public-sector contract award notices for new wins, notable awardees, incumbent recompetes, and competitor signals — one digest row per configured feed without brittle broad crawling.
• Grants.gov Funding Digest | Opportunity Watch & Signal Digest — Monitor Grants.
• NHTSA Vehicle Recall Digest | Recalls + Complaints Watch — Monitor official NHTSA vehicle recall and complaint endpoints for watched model-family, VIN, and manufacturer feeds.
• Product Safety Recall Digest | CPSC + openFDA Alerts — Monitor CPSC saferproducts.
• Regulatory Change Monitor API — Monitor official regulator update feeds, government bulletin pages, and public compliance notices with one action-oriented digest row per monitored source.
• OFAC Sanctions Change Digest | SDN List Monitor — Monitor the OFAC SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) sanctions list for additions and removals.
• Tariff Trade Change Digest | Federal Register + HTS Monitor — Monitor U.
• Treasury Fiscal Data Digest | Debt, Rates & Budget Monitor — Monitor the U.
• USPTO Patent Monitor API | JSON + Webhook — Search and monitor US patent filings with multi-source fallback.

Cost

Pay Per Event:

• actor-start: $0.01 (flat fee per run)
• dataset-item: $0.003 per output item

Example: 1,000 items = $0.01 + (1,000 × $0.003) = $3.01

No subscription required — you only pay for what you use.

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