Data Sources & Methodology
Primary Data Sources
The Accountability Project (Primary)
Pre-cleaned CSV datasets from the publicaccountability S3 bucket, covering 33 states with contributions and/or expenditure records. Data spans from the early 1990s to 2024 depending on state. This is our primary data source, providing the bulk of historical records (~200M+ rows normalized).
FollowTheMoney API (Supplementary)
Candidate-level campaign finance summaries for the 2023-2024 election cycle. Used as an overlay on top of Accountability Project data to add recent candidate fundraising totals. Currently covers 8 states (rate-limited; more being added daily).
Seed Data (Placeholder)
For the 18 states not yet covered by the Accountability Project or FTM API, we show deterministic seed data based on population-weighted estimates. These states are clearly labeled with a "Seed" badge in the interface. Real data is being ingested progressively.
Data Processing
Accountability Project CSVs are streamed through a normalization pipeline that maps each state's unique column names to a common schema (contributor name, amount, date, recipient, party, office).
Contributor names are normalized: "LAST, FIRST" is reversed to "FIRST LAST", common suffixes (Jr, Sr, Inc, LLC, etc.) are stripped, and whitespace is collapsed. This merges duplicate entries like "SMITH, JOHN" and "JOHN SMITH".
Aggregate/placeholder entries ("Aggregate Donations Under $100", "Unitemized", etc.) are excluded from top-N donor rankings but their dollar amounts still count toward state totals.
Summary statistics (top donors, recipients, yearly totals) are pre-computed during ingestion and stored as static JSON files -- no database required.
Coverage by State
| State | Abbr | Disclosure Agency | Coverage | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | AL | Secretary of State | 2013-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Alaska | AK | Public Offices Commission | 2002-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Arizona | AZ | Secretary of State | 1996-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Arkansas | AR | Secretary of State | 2017-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| California | CA | Fair Political Practices Commission | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountabilitycal-access |
| Colorado | CO | Secretary of State | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Connecticut | CT | State Elections Enforcement Commission | 1999-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Delaware | DE | Office of the State Election Commissioner | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Florida | FL | Department of State | 1995-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Georgia | GA | Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission | 2006-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Hawaii | HI | Campaign Spending Commission | 2006-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Idaho | ID | Secretary of State | 1999-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Illinois | IL | State Board of Elections | 1994-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Indiana | IN | Election Division | 1998-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Iowa | IA | Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board | 2000-2024 | ftm |
| Kansas | KS | Governmental Ethics Commission | 2008-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Kentucky | KY | Registry of Election Finance | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Louisiana | LA | Board of Ethics | 2008-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Maine | ME | Ethics Commission | 2002-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Maryland | MD | State Board of Elections | 2003-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Massachusetts | MA | Office of Campaign & Political Finance | 2001-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Michigan | MI | Secretary of State | 1998-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Minnesota | MN | Campaign Finance Board | 1998-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Mississippi | MS | Secretary of State | 2003-2024 | ftm |
| Missouri | MO | Ethics Commission | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Montana | MT | Commissioner of Political Practices | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Nebraska | NE | Accountability and Disclosure Commission | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Nevada | NV | Secretary of State | 2006-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| New Hampshire | NH | Secretary of State | 2000-2024 | ftm |
| New Jersey | NJ | Election Law Enforcement Commission | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| New Mexico | NM | Secretary of State | 2008-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| New York | NY | State Board of Elections | 1999-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| North Carolina | NC | State Board of Elections | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| North Dakota | ND | Secretary of State | 2000-2024 | ftm |
| Ohio | OH | Secretary of State | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Oklahoma | OK | Ethics Commission | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Oregon | OR | Secretary of State | 2002-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Pennsylvania | PA | Department of State | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Rhode Island | RI | Board of Elections | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| South Carolina | SC | State Ethics Commission | 2002-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| South Dakota | SD | Secretary of State | 2004-2024 | ftm |
| Tennessee | TN | Bureau of Ethics & Campaign Finance | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Texas | TX | Ethics Commission | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Utah | UT | Lt. Governor's Office | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Vermont | VT | Secretary of State | 2000-2024 | ftm |
| Virginia | VA | Department of Elections | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Washington | WA | Public Disclosure Commission | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| West Virginia | WV | Secretary of State | 2008-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Wisconsin | WI | Ethics Commission | 2000-2024 | ftmaccountability |
| Wyoming | WY | Secretary of State | 2000-2024 | ftm |
| District of Columbia | DC | Office of Campaign Finance | 2003-2024 | ftmaccountability |
Known Limitations
- Data freshness varies by state. FollowTheMoney data is current through 2024; some state-direct sources may be more recent.
- Historical data completeness varies. Some states have digital records going back to the mid-1990s; others only to the 2000s or later.
- Contribution limits differ significantly by state. Dollar amounts are not directly comparable across states without adjusting for these limits.
- Name normalization is approximate. The same individual may appear under slight variations (e.g., "Robert Smith" vs "Bob Smith").
- Party affiliation data depends on state reporting requirements and may be incomplete for non-partisan races.
- Some states (WY, SD, ND, NH, VT) have limited digital disclosure and rely primarily on FollowTheMoney as the sole data source.
- Expenditure categorization varies by state. Categories have been normalized to a common set but some nuance may be lost.