Donors · Explainer
Where campaign money shows up on the form
Campaign finance is paperwork. The scandal, if there is one, is on a line item — not in a screenshot with a made-up number.
Federal candidate committees file periodic reports. The useful move is not “follow the money” as a vibe. It is: name the committee, open the report, and read the schedules.
The committee, not the person
Money is received and spent by a committee with a file number. A candidate’s name on a yard sign is not the filer. Search the committee. That is the account the form describes.
What the schedules are for
Itemized receipts list contributions above the itemization threshold: name, address, occupation/employer when required, date, amount. Disbursements list what the committee paid — payroll, media, consultants, transfers. Unitemized totals exist because the law allows small contributions to be summed. A round number in a tweet is not a schedule.
Independent expenditures and party committees are separate filings. Do not add them to a candidate’s total unless you say you are doing that. Different boxes. Different rules.
Texas is a different drawer
State candidates and PACs file in the state system, not the federal one. City races, when they report, sit closer to the local clerk or ethics office. The habit is the same: find the filer, open the period, read the lines. Do not mix a federal form with a state report and call it one number.
Occupation and employer fields are how you see industry without inventing a motive. Empty fields are a fact about the filing, not a plot.
No dollar figures on this page. If VoteFeed cites a total, it will be the figure on the form, with the filing named.