FEC Campaign Finance API

api.open.fec.gov · Government

Government API Key Free Tier Politics Campaign Finance Government

US Federal Election Commission data — campaign contributions, expenditures, candidate filings, PAC data, and election results. Free, API key from FEC.

Authentication

API Key Free API key at api.open.fec.gov. Pass as ?api_key= query parameter.

Sample Requests

GET Search candidates

Search for federal election candidates.

https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidates/search?q=Biden&api_key=YOUR_KEY&per_page=5

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidates/search/?q=Biden&api_key=YOUR_KEY&per_page=5"

import requests
params = {
    "q": "Biden",
    "api_key": "YOUR_KEY",
    "per_page": "5"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidates/search/",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidates/search/');
url.searchParams.set('q', 'Biden');
url.searchParams.set('api_key', 'YOUR_KEY');
url.searchParams.set('per_page', '5');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidates/search/")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("q", "Biden")
	q.Set("api_key", "YOUR_KEY")
	q.Set("per_page", "5")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidates/search/")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "q" => "Biden",
  "api_key" => "YOUR_KEY",
  "per_page" => "5"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidates/search/?" . http_build_query([
    "q" => "Biden",
    "api_key" => "YOUR_KEY",
    "per_page" => "5"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Get contributions

Get recent campaign contributions from New York.

https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a?sort=-contribution_receipt_date&api_key=YOUR_KEY&per_page=5&contributor_state=NY

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?sort=-contribution_receipt_date&api_key=YOUR_KEY&per_page=5&contributor_state=NY"

import requests
params = {
    "sort": "-contribution_receipt_date",
    "api_key": "YOUR_KEY",
    "per_page": "5",
    "contributor_state": "NY"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/');
url.searchParams.set('sort', '-contribution_receipt_date');
url.searchParams.set('api_key', 'YOUR_KEY');
url.searchParams.set('per_page', '5');
url.searchParams.set('contributor_state', 'NY');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("sort", "-contribution_receipt_date")
	q.Set("api_key", "YOUR_KEY")
	q.Set("per_page", "5")
	q.Set("contributor_state", "NY")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "sort" => "-contribution_receipt_date",
  "api_key" => "YOUR_KEY",
  "per_page" => "5",
  "contributor_state" => "NY"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?" . http_build_query([
    "sort" => "-contribution_receipt_date",
    "api_key" => "YOUR_KEY",
    "per_page" => "5",
    "contributor_state" => "NY"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

Postman Setup Guide

Get Postman ↗

Get a free API key at api.open.fec.gov
Pass api_key=YOUR_KEY as query param
Candidates: GET /candidates/search/?q=name&api_key=KEY
Contributions: GET /schedules/schedule_a/?api_key=KEY&per_page=10
Spending: GET /schedules/schedule_b/?api_key=KEY&per_page=10

Open documentation ↗