Candidates & Campaign Committees
The funds that finance American elections come from various groups and special interests,
and each kind of organization follows different laws enforced by the FEC.
A candidate committee is a group organized by a particular candidate to support their nomination
and election to office. Individual donors can contribute up to $2,700 to candidate committees per election cycle
(the two years leading up to an election).
A Political Action Committee, or PAC, is a group formed for the purpose of raising and spending money to support or
oppose the election of candidates. Dating back to 1944, PACs can legally contribute money directly to a candidate's
committee, national party committee, or other PACs. Federal law limits the contribution of individuals to PACs to a maximum of
$5000 per year.
A National Party Committee such as the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or Republican National Committee (RNC),
is the official fundraising organization of a political party. Registered with the FEC, National Party Committees can receive
up to $33,400 per year from individual contributors.
A Super PAC is a special kind of PAC that makes no direct contributions to candidates or committees, instead financing
advertising and other campaign materials independently. Because they are not directly related to a candidate or
political committee, Super PACs are not required to follow FEC restrictions on the amount of money raised or spent for the purposes of
an election. Legalized by the Supreme Court in 2010, Super PACs and their unlimited funds have changed the playing field of
American politics. Super PACs have become a popular vehicle for outside fundraising; while not allowed to coordinate their activities with a
particular candidate or the candidate's principal committee, so-called single-candidate Super PACs focus almost exclusively on the election of a single individual.
The following charts show the breakdown of candidates' fundraising totals across the last three presidential elections,
and how different types of fundraising committees, sizes of contributions, and locations of donors all play a role in making or breaking
a candidate.
Committee Financial Filing Rules
The frequency of reporting varies by the type of committee. Candidate Campaign Committees must file financial information
monthly during the year of the general election, but are only required to file quarterly the year before. National Party Committees must report monthly,
and PACs and Super PACs can file either monthly or semi-annually.
In order to compare fundraising and expenditure over time for all types of committees, regardless of their filing schedule,
we used itemized contributions and operational expediture data in conjunction with FEC Form 3P filings to determine prorated monthly
fundraising and expenditure totals. This is a
major data processing effort, but the results are worth the pain!
The FEC requires committees to report their itemized receipts for any contribution that exceeds $200. Any receipts below that amount are
merely summarized in the committees' monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual Form 3P filings.
Monthly Fundraising and Spending
These charts show total monthly fundraising and spending by candidate committee, the candidate's primary Super PAC, and
National Committee.