FEC

About FEC

The OpenFEC API is a RESTful web service from the U.S. Federal Election Commission that provides access to data on how candidates and committees fund their campaigns. It supports full-text and field-specific search, with data organized around candidates and committees, each identified by candidate_id or committee_id, and updated nightly. Endpoints cover candidate and committee registration information (from FEC Forms 1 and 2), financial report summaries (Forms 3, 3X, 13, and 3P), and itemized filings such as Schedule A (receipts/contributions), Schedule B (disbursements), Schedule C (loans), Schedule D (debts), Schedule E (independent expenditures), Schedule F (party-coordinated expenditures), communication costs, and electioneering communications. Reporting deadlines and FEC meeting/event dates are also available.

The API is intended for developers building tools or wrappers around FEC data, with model definitions and a schema available at /swagger and source code open for issues and pull requests. Access requires signing up for an API key, which allows up to 1,000 calls per hour with results limited to 100 per page; the API can also be tested without a key using DEMO_KEY through the web interface. Higher limits of 7,200 calls per hour (120 calls per minute) can be requested by emailing APIinfo@fec.gov. Bulk downloads, including a weekly Schedule A database dump, are available separately from the current FEC site. Use of the API is subject to the FEC's Terms of Service and Acceptable Use policy, which restricts use of contributor lists for commercial purposes or solicitation of donations.

Key features

• Full-text and field-specific search across FEC candidate, committee, and filing data
• Candidate and committee endpoints organized by candidate_id and committee_id
• Financial report data from Forms 3, 3X, 3P, and 13
• Itemized receipts (Schedule A), disbursements (Schedule B), loans (Schedule C), and debts (Schedule D) endpoints
• Independent expenditure and electioneering communication data
• Swagger schema and model definitions for building API wrappers

Frequently asked questions