Candidate-committee linkage file description
The candidate-committee linkage file contains information linking the candidate's information to information about his or her committee.
This file shows the candidate’s identification number, candidate’s election year, FEC election year, committee identification number, committee type, committee designation, and a linkage identification number. The end-of-line (EOL) marker is line feed '\n' (LF, 0x0A, 10 in decimal).
Candidate-committee linkage file format
| Column name | Field name | Position | Null | Data type | Description | Example data |
| CAND_ID | Candidate identification | 1 | N | VARCHAR2 (9) | A 9-character alpha-numeric code assigned to a candidate by the Federal Election Commission. The candidate ID for a specific candidate remains the same across election cycles as long as the candidate is running for the same office. | H8VA01233 |
| CAND_ELECTION_YR | Candidate election year | 2 | N | NUMBER (4) | Candidate's election year | 2018 |
| FEC_ELECTION_YR | FEC election year | 3 | N | NUMBER (4) | Active 2-year period | 2018 |
| CMTE_ID | Committee identification | 4 | Y | VARCHAR2 (9) | A 9-character alpha-numeric code assigned to a committee by the Federal Election Commission. The committee ID for a specific committee always remains the same. | C00100005 |
| CMTE_TP | Committee type | 5 | Y | VARCHAR2 (1) | List of committee type codes | H |
| CMTE_DSGN | Committee designation | 6 | Y | VARCHAR2 (1) | A = Authorized by a candidate B = Lobbyist/Registrant PAC D = Leadership PAC J = Joint fundraiser P = Principal campaign committee of a candidate U = Unauthorized |
A |
| LINKAGE_ID | Linkage ID | 7 | N | NUMBER (12) | Unique link ID | 123456789012 |