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  • Press Release

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

September 26, 2013

WASHINGTON – Congressional candidates running in the 2013-2014 election cycle received $287.2 million and disbursed $137.9 million in the first half of this year, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission that cover activity from January 1 through June 30, 2013. During this period, political parties received $228 million and disbursed $177.8 million, and political action committees (PACs) received $411.1 million and disbursed $339 million. Filings submitted to the Commission in this six-month period indicated that disbursements for independent expenditures totaled $9.4 million in connection with congressional elections in 2013 and 2014.

Activity from Jan. 1, 2013 through June 30, 2013 (figures in millions)
Filers Receipts Disbursements
2014 Congressional Candidates $287.2 $137.9
Party Committees $228.0 $177.8
PACs $411.1 $339.0
Communications Filings Total
Independent Expenditures $9.4
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.

*To maintain consistency with how they had been calculated in prior years, the totals for Party Committees above and the sums for the State and Local Democratic Party Committees (federal funds), State and Local Republican Party Committees (federal funds), Total Other Party and Total lines in the Political Party Committees table were revised on April 2, 2014 to include transfers between party committees and transfers between party committees’ federal and nonfederal accounts that had been inadvertently excluded from the original calculations, and to exclude sums representing the Levin share of Federal Election Activity that had been inadvertently included in the original calculations.

I. Congressional Candidates

The 704 candidates registered to run in the 2013-2014 election cycle for the United States House of Representatives and Senate reported raising a total of $287.2 million and spending $137.9 million between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013. House and Senate candidates reported combined total debts of $29 million and combined total cash-on-hand of $351 million as of June 30, 2013.

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

6-Month Financial Activity of Congressional Candidates* (figures in millions)
Year Candidates Receipts Disbursements Debts Owed Cash on Hand
2013 704 $287.2 $137.9 $29.0 $351.0
2011 778 $281.3 $118.9 $46.8 $340.0
2009 794 $238.3 $104.5 $29.8 $360.2
2007 713 $230.1 $94.8 $38.2 $313.8
2005 683 $212.7 $83.7 $29.5 $321.1
2003 658 $170.3 $71.0 $40.9 $270.8
2001 615 $136.7 $55.0 $37.0 $207.5

*Includes activity from January 1 through June 30 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 72 candidates running in the 34 Senate races in 2014, as well as in the 2013 special elections for United States Senate seats in Massachusetts and New Jersey, reported total receipts of $97.8 million, disbursements of $35.5 million, debts of $1.6 million and cash-on-hand of $114.1 million.

The 632 candidates running in 435 House races reported combined total receipts of $189.4 million, disbursements of $102.4 million, debts of $27.3 million and cash-on-hand of $236.9 million. 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.

Data summary tables for reports submitted to the Commission through June 30, 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 $228 million in federal funds, disbursements of $177.8 million, debts of $42.7 million, and cash-on-hand of $78.8 million as of June 30, 2013. Of those totals, other party committees** reported receipts of $1.1 million, disbursements of $876,141, debts of $389,379, and combined cash-on-hand of $575,250 as of June 30, 2013.

The following table summarizes 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.

Party Committees Receipts Disbursements Debts Owed Cash on Hand
DNC $31.6 $30.2 $18.3 $5.7
DSCC $27.4 $19.6 $11.3 $9.6
DCCC $40.8 $29.1 $0.0 $13.2
State and Local Democratic Party Committees (federal funds) $22.7 $18.7 $1.9 $8.4
Total* $117.9 $93.0 $31.5 $36.9
RNC $41.1 $33.1 $0.0 $12.7
NRSC $17.7 $14.1 $6.5 $7.0
NRCC $34.3 $24.6 $2.3 $11.3
State and Local Republican Party Committees (federal funds) $19.4 $15.6 $2.0 $10.2
Total* $109.1 $83.9 $10.8 $41.3
Total Other Party Committees** $1.1 $0.9 $0.4 $0.6
Total* $228.0 $177.8 $42.7 $78.8

*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 Reform Party of the United States of America.

***To maintain consistency with how they had been calculated in prior years, the sums for the State and Local Democratic Party Committees (federal funds), State and Local Republican Party Committees (federal funds), Total Other Party and Total lines were revised on April 2, 2014 to include transfers between party committees and transfers between party committees’ federal and nonfederal accounts that had been inadvertently excluded from the original calculations, and to exclude sums representing the Levin share of Federal Election Activity that had been inadvertently included in the original calculations. Additionally, an erroneous overstatement of the Cash on Hand total for State and Local Democratic Party Committees (federal funds) in the original press release and the resulting overstatement of the Total Cash on Hand have been corrected in this release.

Individuals, for whom contributions to national parties are limited to $32,400 in the 2013-2014 election cycle, were the largest source of federal funds for party committees. Democratic party committees reported receiving $92.6 million from individuals, while Republican party committees received $76.4 million from individuals. PACs and other political committees contributed $10.6 million to Democratic party committees and $20.1 million to Republican party committees as of June 30, 2013.

Democratic and Republican U.S. House campaign committees transferred $6.8 million and $8.5 million, respectively, from their campaign accounts to their national congressional party committees from January 1 through June 30, 2013. Democratic and Republican U.S. Senate campaign committees transferred $374,560 and $82,400, respectively, from their campaign accounts to their national senatorial party committees.

Data summary tables for reports submitted to the Commission through June 30, 2013 by political party committees can be found here.

III. Political Action Committees (PACs)

Based on reports filed with the Commission from January 1 through June 30, 2013, 6,606 federal PACs reported total receipts of $411.1 million, disbursements of $339 million, debts of $21.9 million, and a combined cash-on-hand of $481.8 million.

The following table summarizes campaign finance activity of PACs based on PAC type as of June 30, 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 Type No. of PACs Receipts Disbursements Debts Owed Cash on Hand
SSFs:
Corporate 1,701 $93.9 $85.8 $ 0.2 $139.1
Labor Organization 288 $69.0 $53.8 $ 3.5 $100.2
Trade Association 694 $40.3 $33.9 $11.9 $ 58.8
Membership 251 $35.9 $23.4 $64.9 $ 40.4
Cooperative 39 $ 2.4 $ 2.1 $ 0.0 $ 4.1
Corporations without Stock 108 $ 4.3 $ 4.0 $ 0.4 $ 4.1
Nonconnected PACs: *
Independent Expenditure- Only Committees 1,130 $50.8 $32.1 $12.2 $ 51.3
Committees with Non-Contribution Accounts 71 $41.9 $38.8 $ 0.2 $ 12.5
Leadership PACs 517 $30.0 $24.9 $ 0.2 $ 32.0
Traditional PACs 1,807 $42.6 $40.0 $ 5.1 $ 39.1
Total** 6,606 $411.1 $339.0 $21.9 $481.8

* Nonconnected committees include Independent Expenditure-Only Committees, Committees with Non-Contribution Accounts and Leadership PACs. Independent Expenditure-Only 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 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 $98.4 million as of June 30, 2013. PAC contributions to Senate and House candidates totaled $20.2 million and $78.2 million, respectively. Independent Expenditure-Only Committees are prohibited from making contributions to candidates.

Data summary tables for reports submitted to the Commission through June 30, 2013 by PACs can be found here.

IV. Independent Expenditures

As of June 30, 2013, independent expenditure filings* reported to the Commission in connection with congressional elections in the 2013-2014 election cycle totaled $9.4 million. Independent Expenditure-Only Committees accounted for $4.9 million of all independent expenditure filings received by the Commission, Committees with Non-Contribution Accounts reported $3,000, and other PACs reported $1.8 million. Independent expenditures made by persons other than political committees totaled $1.8 million, and party committees reported independent expenditures totaling $923,844.

Data summary tables for independent expenditure filings submitted to the Commission through June 30, 2013 can be found here.

*Independent expenditures are subject to disclosure requirements once they reach or exceed $10,000 with respect to a given election at any time up to and including the 20th day before an election, and once they reach or exceed $1,000 with respect to a given election, and are made fewer than 20 days, but more than 24 hours, before an election. The totals listed include only the amounts that were reported to the Commission.

V. Electioneering Communications

No electioneering communication filings were reported to the Commission in connection with activity in 2013. An electioneering communication is a broadcast, cable or satellite communication that refers to a clearly identified federal candidate, is targeted to the relevant electorate, 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.