FEC Summarizes Campaign Activity of the First 12 Months of the 2013-2014 Election Cycle

WASHINGTON – Congressional candidates running in the 2013-2014 election cycle received $610.5 million and disbursed $320.7 million in the first 12 months of the cycle, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission that cover activity from January 1 through December 31, 2013. During this period, political parties received $440.6 million and disbursed $356.4 million, and political action committees (PACs) received $857.1 million and disbursed $719.3 million. Filings submitted to the Commission in this 12-month period indicated that disbursements for independent expenditures totaled $26.1 million in connection with congressional elections in 2013 and 2014.

Activity from Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2013
(figures in millions)

Filers	Receipts	Disbursements
2014 Congressional Candidates	$610.5	$320.7
Party Committees	$440.6	$356.4
PACs	$857.1	$719.3
Communications Filings	Total
Independent Expenditures	$26.1
Electioneering Communications	$0.0

This release summarizes campaign activity in the 2013-2014 election cycle. (Presidential activity is not included in the analysis until two years before the presidential general election.) Supporting data tables are linked at the end of each summary section below.

I. Congressional Candidates

The 1,086 candidates running in the 2014 election cycle for the United States House of Representatives and Senate reported raising a total of $610.5 million and spending $320.7 million between January 1 and December 31, 2013. House and Senate candidates reported combined total debts of $49.2 million in 2013 and combined total cash-on-hand of $474.9 million as of December 31, 2013.

The following table summarizes campaign finance activity of House and Senate candidates for the first 12 months of each two-year election cycle since the 2001-2002 cycle.

12-Month Financial Activity of Congressional Candidates*
(monetary figures in millions)

Year	No. of Cand.	Receipts	Disbursements	Debts Owed	Cash on Hand
2013	1,086	$610.5	$320.7	$49.2	$474.9
2011	1,218	$637.1	$299.7	$71.8	$516.4
2009	1,323	$587.0	$291.9	$69.4	$524.6
2007	992	$490.5	$231.8	$48.0	$438.0
2005	1,187	$466.9	$215.5	$42.2	$450.0
2003	1,242	$389.2	$186.6	$54.0	$373.8
2001	1,115	$292.9	$137.3	$45.7	$284.7

*Includes activity from January 1 through December 31 of the pre-election year. Contribution limits are indexed for inflation every cycle. The totals in the 2013 row may differ slightly from the sum of the numbers in the two subsequent paragraphs as the numbers have been rounded. The number of candidates reflects the number of candidate committees that filed reports with financial activity in a given election cycle.

The 150 candidates running for Senate in 2014, as well as in the 2013 special elections for United States Senate seats in Massachusetts and New Jersey, reported total receipts of $224.5 million, disbursements of $110.5 million, debts of $7.8 million and cash-on-hand of $162.4 million.

The 936 candidates running for the House of Representatives in 2014 reported combined total receipts of $386 million, disbursements of $210.2 million, debts of $41.4 million and cash-on-hand of $312.5 million in 2013. These numbers also encompass financial activity associated with the 2013 special elections for Alabama’s 1st Congressional District, Illinois’s 2nd Congressional District, Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District, Massachusetts’s 5th Congressional District, Missouri’s 8th Congressional District and South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District and with the 2014 special elections for Florida’s 13th Congressional District.

Data summary tables for reports submitted to the Commission through December 31, 2013 by 2013 and 2014 congressional candidate committees can be found here.

II. Political Party Committees

National, state and local political party committees reported combined total receipts of $440.6 million in federal funds, disbursements of $356.4 million, debts of $23.4 million, and cash-on-hand of $103.5 million as of December 31, 2013. Of those totals, other party committees reported receipts of $2.3 million, disbursements of $2 million, debts of $455,192, and a combined cash-on-hand of $603,058 as of the end of 2013. See the footnote in the following table for the names of these other party committees.

The following table summarizes 2013 campaign finance activity of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Republican National Committee (RNC), National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), as well as each party’s state and local committees and other party committees.

Political Party Activity from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2013
(figures in millions)

Party Committees	Receipts		Disbursements		Debts Owed		Cash on Hand
DNC	$64.7		$64.3		$15.6		$4.7
DSCC	$52.6		$42.4		$3.8		$12.0
DCCC	$75.8		$48.0		$0.0		$29.3
State and Local Democratic
Party Committees (federal funds)	$46.5		$36.0		$1.9		$8.9
Total*	$230.3		$181.3		$21.3		$54.9
RNC	$80.7		$76.3		$0.0		$9.2
NRSC	$36.7		$32.0		$0.0		$8.0
NRCC	$60.6		$41.1		$0.0		$21.0
State and Local Republican
Party Committees (federal funds)	$38.9		$32.6		$1.7		$9.7
Total*	$208.0		$173.1		$1.7		$47.9
Total Other Party**	$2.3		$2.0		$0.5		$0.6
Total*	$440.6		$356.4		$23.4		$103.5

*The totals in this line may not equal the sum of the numbers in the corresponding columns as the receipts and disbursements have been adjusted to account for transfers between party committees and the numbers have been rounded.

**Other party committees include the Libertarian National Committee, Libertarian National Congressional Committee, Green Party of the United States, Green Senatorial Campaign Committee, Constitution Party National Committee, and the Reform Party of the United States of America.

Individuals, for whom contributions to national parties are limited to $32,400 this election cycle, were the largest source of federal funds for party committees. Democratic party committees reported receiving $186.2 million from individuals, while Republican party committees received $154.4 million from individuals. PACs and other political committees contributed $17 million to Democratic party committees and $32 million to Republican party committees as of December 31, 2013.

Democratic and Republican House campaign committees transferred $11.5 million and $16.8 million, respectively, from their campaign accounts to their national congressional party committees in 2013. Democratic and Republican U.S. Senate campaign committees transferred $1.4 million and $409,400, respectively, from their campaign accounts to their national senatorial party committees.

Data summary tables for reports submitted to the Commission through December 31, 2013 by political party committees can be found here.

III. Political Action Committees (PACs)

Based on reports filed with the Commission in 2013, 6,849 federal PACs reported total receipts of $857.1 million, disbursements of $719.3 million, debts of $21.9 million, and combined cash-on-hand of $550.9 million.  

The following table summarizes campaign finance activity of PACs based on PAC type in 2013. This table includes both separate segregated funds (SSFs), which have connected organizations such as corporations or labor organizations that establish, administer or raise money on their behalf, and nonconnected committees.

PAC Activity from Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2013
(monetary figures in millions)

Committee Type	No. of PACs	Receipts	Disbursements	Debts Owed	Cash on Hand
Separate Segregated Funds
Corporate	1,742	$187.0	$163.8	$0.4	$154.8
Labor	288	$144.3	$107.3	$1.9	$122.2
Trade	707	$71.5	$60.7	$0.0	$62.8
Membership	242	$70.5	$50.8	$0.0	$47.9
Cooperative	40	$3.8	$3.5	$0.0	$4.1
Corporations without Stock	107	$9.5	$8.6	$0.4	$4.5
Nonconnected PACs*
Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committees	1,230	$136.4	$103.3	$14.0	$66.7
Committees w/ Non-Contribution Accounts	82	$85.9	$82.4	$0.3	$13.0
Leadership PACs	517	$58.7	$51.6	$0.2	$34.0
Other Nonconnected PACs	1,894	$89.5	$87.5	$4.7	$40.9
Total**	6,849	$857.1	$719.3	$21.9	$550.9

*Nonconnected committees include Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committees, Committees with Non-Contribution Accounts and Leadership PACs. Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committees are committees that may receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, and labor organizations for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activity. Committees with Non-Contribution Accounts solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor organizations, and other political committees to a segregated bank account for the same purposes as Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committees, while maintaining a separate bank account -- subject to all of the statutory amount limitations and source prohibitions -- that is permitted to make contributions to federal candidates. The data above includes receipts and disbursements from both bank accounts of Committees with Non-Contribution Accounts. Leadership PACs are political committees that are directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding federal office, but are neither authorized committees of the candidate or officeholder nor affiliated with an authorized committee of a candidate or officeholder. Like other multicandidate PACs, a leadership PAC may contribute up to $5,000 per election to a federal candidate committee.

**The totals in this line may not equal the sum of the numbers in the corresponding columns as these numbers have been rounded. Instead, the bottom-line totals correspond to PAC Table 1.

Contributions by PACs to congressional candidates seeking office in the 2013-2014 election cycle totaled $186 million as of December 31, 2013. PAC contributions to Senate and House candidates totaled $39.9 million and $146.1 million, respectively. Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committees are prohibited from making contributions to candidates.

Data summary tables for reports submitted to the Commission through December 31, 2013 by PACs can be found here.

IV. Independent Expenditures

All independent expenditures reported to the Commission in 2013 in connection with congressional elections in the 2013-2014 election cycle totaled $26.1 million.* Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committees accounted for $17.5 million of all independent expenditures disclosed to the Commission, Committees with Non-Contribution Accounts reported $174,762, and other PACs reported $2.8 million. Independent expenditures made by persons other than political committees totaled $3.4 million and party committees reported independent expenditures totaling $2.3 million.

Data summary tables for independent expenditure filings submitted to the Commission through December 31, 2013 can be found here.

*A political committee must itemize its payments for independent expenditures once the calendar-year total paid to a vendor or other person exceeds $200 with respect to a particular election. Any other person (individual, partnership or group of individuals) must file a report with the FEC at the end of the first reporting period in which independent expenditures with respect to a given election aggregate more than $250 in a calendar year and in any succeeding period during the same year in which additional independent expenditures of any amount are made.

V. Electioneering Communications

No electioneering communication filings were reported to the Commission in connection with activity in the 2013-2014 election cycle. An electioneering communication is a broadcast, cable or satellite communication that refers to a clearly identified federal candidate and is distributed 30 days prior to a primary election or 60 days prior to a general election. These communications do not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate.