California Campaign Finance

See how money is moving through California committees, donors, and filings.

Start with a filing-backed snapshot of receipts, expenditures, donor concentration, and reporting bursts, then move into the entities carrying that activity.

In scope

$1.8B

Combined reported receipts and expenditures in the current overview window

Top 25 committees

62%

of reported receipts come from the top 25 committees

Latest burst

$3.0M

Most recent major filing wave in scope

Money movement overviewRolling last 12 months
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Latest burst: $3.0MSource: official filings

Top donors

35%

of all money comes from the top 25 donors

Ballot measures

Not centered here

Ballot measure committees may be included in overall flows, but ballot measures are not foregrounded as a lead overview module here.

Proof

What jumps out before you click deeper

The homepage should stay broad and defensible: flows, concentration, and filing activity first; deeper rankings and entity comparisons in the runway.

Committees often reveal where money is concentrating first

The first useful surprise for most users is scale. Candidate names may draw attention, but committees are where the statewide picture starts to become legible.
The homepage should communicate that pattern cleanly, then let `/runway` carry the ranked detail and comparative depth.
Browse committees

Donor networks can shape multiple contests at once

A relatively small donor universe can set the tone across several committees and candidate-linked efforts at once, even when race-level attribution is incomplete.
That is a stronger homepage message than a miniature donor table. It creates curiosity without trying to duplicate the actual donor browse experience.
Browse donors

Reporting waves can quickly change the picture

The third useful pattern is motion. Users should feel that filing waves and reporting bursts are changing the landscape, not just populating a static archive of totals.
The homepage can say that crisply. `/runway` is where we should show which committees, candidate-linked money clusters, and filings are actually driving the surge.
Open the overview

Explore

What you can explore

Start with the entity that matches your question, then move outward through connected filings and actors.

Candidates & officeholders

Election-scoped candidate lists, fundraising totals, and direct paths into related committees and donors.
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Committees & PACs

The organizations where political money is most often raised, spent, and disclosed.
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Major donors

Individuals and organizations financing races, committees, and statewide measure fights.
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Ballot measures

Support and opposition flows, plus the committee networks built around each measure.
Explore

Runway overview

A guided entry point that explains where to start and how the entities connect.
Explore

Methodology

Built from official filings

Aggregates are derived from California Secretary of State disclosures. We keep the assumptions visible.
  • Source: California Secretary of State (CalAccess filings)
  • Historical coverage across election cycles
  • Amendments handled correctly (where available)
  • Aggregations are reproducible and provenance-aware
How the data is processed