| --- |
| license: mit |
| task_categories: |
| - tabular-classification |
| - tabular-regression |
| tags: |
| - campaign-finance |
| - fec |
| - elections |
| - political-donations |
| - pac |
| - lobbying |
| - duckdb |
| - government-data |
| - politics |
| - united-states |
| pretty_name: FEC Campaign Finance Database |
| size_categories: |
| - 100M<n<1B |
| --- |
| |
| # FEC Campaign Finance Database |
|
|
| A clean, queryable DuckDB database built from [FEC bulk data](https://www.fec.gov/data/browse-data/?tab=bulk-data) covering federal campaign finance filings. |
|
|
| **297,272,747 rows** across **10 tables** covering candidates, committees, individual contributions, PAC spending, and more. |
|
|
| Built with [fec-database](https://github.com/ian-nason/fec-database). |
|
|
| ## Quick Start |
|
|
| ### DuckDB CLI |
|
|
| ```sql |
| INSTALL httpfs; |
| LOAD httpfs; |
| ATTACH 'https://huggingface.co/datasets/Nason/fec-database/resolve/main/fec.duckdb' AS fec (READ_ONLY); |
| |
| -- Top presidential candidates by individual donations (2024 cycle) |
| SELECT c.CAND_NAME, c.CAND_PTY_AFFILIATION AS party, |
| SUM(i.TRANSACTION_AMT) AS total, COUNT(*) AS donations |
| FROM fec.individual_contributions i |
| JOIN fec.candidates c ON i.CMTE_ID = c.CAND_PCC AND i.cycle = c.cycle |
| WHERE i.cycle = 2024 AND c.CAND_OFFICE = 'P' AND i.TRANSACTION_AMT > 0 |
| GROUP BY 1, 2 ORDER BY total DESC LIMIT 10; |
| ``` |
|
|
| ### Python |
|
|
| ```python |
| import duckdb |
| con = duckdb.connect() |
| con.sql("INSTALL httpfs; LOAD httpfs;") |
| con.sql(\"\"\" |
| ATTACH 'https://huggingface.co/datasets/Nason/fec-database/resolve/main/fec.duckdb' |
| AS fec (READ_ONLY) |
| \"\"\") |
| con.sql("SELECT * FROM fec._metadata").show() |
| ``` |
|
|
| DuckDB uses HTTP range requests, so only the pages needed for your query are downloaded. |
|
|
| ## Tables |
|
|
| | Table | Description | Rows | Cols | Cycles | |
| |-------|-------------|------|------|--------| |
| | `individual_contributions` | Every individual donation: name, employer, occupation, amount, date | 226,607,614 | 22 | 2004-2026 | |
| | `committee_to_committee` | Transfers between committees | 45,559,049 | 22 | 2004-2026 | |
| | `operating_expenditures` | Committee operating expenditures: payee, purpose, amount | 18,875,347 | 26 | 2004-2026 | |
| | `committee_contributions` | PAC/party contributions to candidates | 5,214,013 | 23 | 2004-2026 | |
| | `independent_expenditures` | Independent expenditures for/against candidates | 664,775 | 258 | 2010-2026 | |
| | `committees` | Committee master: name, type, party, treasurer, connected org | 183,599 | 16 | 2004-2026 | |
| | `candidate_committee_links` | Which committees are authorized by which candidates | 73,520 | 8 | 2004-2026 | |
| | `candidates` | Candidate master: name, party, office, state, district, status | 67,702 | 16 | 2004-2026 | |
| | `communication_costs` | Internal communications supporting/opposing candidates | 25,558 | 27 | 2010-2026 | |
| | `electioneering_communications` | Broadcast ads mentioning candidates near elections | 1,570 | 397 | 2010-2024 | |
|
|
| ## Pre-built Views |
|
|
| | View | Description | |
| |------|-------------| |
| | `v_candidate_totals` | Candidate fundraising totals from individual contributions | |
| | `v_top_donors` | Aggregated donor activity across all cycles | |
| | `v_pac_to_candidate` | PAC-to-candidate contributions with org names | |
| | `v_daily_donations` | Daily donation volume and amounts | |
|
|
| ## Data Source |
|
|
| [Federal Election Commission](https://www.fec.gov/data/browse-data/?tab=bulk-data). Bulk data files are public domain and updated weekly. |
|
|
| ## License |
|
|
| Database build code: MIT. Underlying data: public domain (U.S. government records). |
|
|
| ## GitHub |
|
|
| Full source code, build instructions, and example queries: [github.com/ian-nason/fec-database](https://github.com/ian-nason/fec-database) |
|
|
