What CANDIDATE donors give in federal races

Tiny pool, very large mean per donor record

$16,508,299 is the occupation-level dollar total. 7,075 is the itemization count. 409 is the donor-record count. Mean contribution size is about $2,334. Mean dollars per donor record are about $40,363. Repeat giving is about 17 itemizations per donor record.

409 donor records is among the smallest pools in this harvest band. The per-donor mean of about $40,363 is an arithmetic result on that small set; it is not a typical household gift and not a statement that every candidate self-funded at that level.

The packet does not name committees, cycles, or whether lines are candidate-to-own-campaign transfers. It only supplies the three CANDIDATE facts.

CANDIDATE is an occupation string, not a ballot file

FEC candidate master files are a different table. This page cites occupation text CANDIDATE: $16,508,299, 7,075 contributions, and 409 donors. People who listed politician, officeholder, or elected official stay outside the total unless the bulk extract normalized those words to CANDIDATE.

Best-efforts collection records the donor’s word. A person running for office, a person who once ran, and a staffer who typed CANDIDATE in error can all appear. Occupation is per transaction.

What the dollars do not measure

$16,508,299 is not total candidate receipts and not a self-funding ranking. Candidate and committee pages hold the recipient side. Occupation CANDIDATE is only the subset of itemizations where the occupation field equals that string.

Party is not stored in the occupation column. Open the CANDIDATE occupation page for recipient rows rather than reading bloc preference from the status word. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $16.5 million.

Using the hub

Cite $16,508,299, 7,075 contributions, and 409 donors together. A sentence that shows only the dollars hides that 409 records carry a very high arithmetic mean. Use the occupations index to see neighboring status labels as separate keys.

Unitemized receipts are omitted. Harvested facts have no cycle year. Live filters may change displayed sums. Source: Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault.

Limits

409 is a contributor-record count, not a unique-person estimate after name matching and not a count of federal candidacies. Extra words (candidate for Congress) create parallel buckets when they do not normalize to CANDIDATE.

Do not treat about $40,363 per donor record as typical candidate self-funding. It is an arithmetic mean of itemized occupation money on this exact string.

Status label as occupation text

CANDIDATE in this extract is $16,508,299 on 7,075 itemizations from 409 donor records. About 17 itemizations per donor record is a moderate repeat rate. Mean line size is about $2,334; mean dollars per donor record are about $40,363. Those means reflect a tiny pool, not a typical gift.

This occupation total is not a substitute for candidate filing tables. Industry pages should not be added to $16,508,299. A public-record citation that stays inside the packet is: occupation equals CANDIDATE, dollars equal $16,508,299, contributions equal 7,075, donors equal 409. LobbyVault does not infer motive from the occupation column. Compact millions ($16.5 million) are the same headline amount as $16,508,299, rounded to one decimal place. Live hub filters may change displayed sums; this file restates harvested packet facts only.

409 donor records is among the smallest pools in this harvest band. Politician, officeholder, and candidate for Congress create parallel buckets when they do not normalize to CANDIDATE. Unitemized receipts never carry an occupation code. The packet does not identify self-funding versus gifts to other committees.

Keep CANDIDATE on its own line as occupation text, not as a ballot-file census. 409 is a contributor-record count, not a unique-person estimate after name matching and not a count of federal candidacies. Quote occupation equals CANDIDATE, then $16,508,299, 7,075 contributions, and 409 donors. Candidate and committee pages hold the recipient side. FEC candidate master files are a different table.

Status label CANDIDATE is 409 donor records, 7,075 itemizations, and $16,508,299. Mean dollars per donor record of about $40,363 are an arithmetic result on a tiny pool, not typical self-funding. FEC candidate master files are a different table. Do not read party from the occupation column. Quote the three occupation-string facts.

Questions

How much have CANDIDATE donors given in FEC records?

Occupation CANDIDATE is attached to $16,508,299 in LobbyVault’s FEC bulk index, from 7,075 contributions and 409 donor records. The total is itemized occupation money, not a ballot-file census. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.

Is this total all candidate self-funding?

The packet does not say. It only records occupation text CANDIDATE: $16,508,299, 7,075 contributions, and 409 donors. Candidate committee pages hold the recipient side. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.

Why is the mean per donor so high?

Dividing $16,508,299 by 409 donor records yields about $40,363. That is an arithmetic mean on a 409-record pool, not a typical household gift. Mean line size is about $2,334. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.

Does listing CANDIDATE prove the donor was on a ballot?

No. Occupation is self-reported free text. The FEC occupation field is not a candidate master extract. Quote 7,075 contributions and 409 donor records with the $16,508,299 total. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.