COLUMBIA, SC: $44.3M on 148,057 FEC receipts

Columbia’s volume relative to its dollars

One hundred forty-eight thousand fifty-seven lines produce $44,314,231. Divide the pair and the mean itemized line is about $299. That mean is arithmetic from the two packet facts, not a ranking of Midlands giving. FEC.gov does not publish a median or a unique-donor count on this city aggregate.

Lexington, West Columbia, and Irmo are other Midlands city strings. They are not inside $44,314,231 unless the filer typed COLUMBIA. Richland County is orientation, not an FEC roll-up.

Office addresses can share the Columbia city field with household streets. Totals can include a PAC or joint-fundraising address when that is what filers typed. The 148,057 lines are receipts, not unique persons.

Not a Charleston or Greenville sum

Charleston and Greenville are other South Carolina city strings when filers typed them. Adding them to Columbia would be a recode. This packet publishes COLUMBIA, SC only: $44,314,231 and 148,057 lines.

State SC on the key is required in the citation so COLUMBIA, SC is not merged with Columbia, Missouri or Columbia, Maryland. Recheck both facts on the live hub if a later extract lands.

Capital city versus postal map

FEC.gov stores whatever city appeared on the itemized receipt. COLUMBIA plus SC is the match. Recoding into a Census place or a Midlands metro label is a different dataset.

ZIP pages cut the same federal series by postal code. Summing Columbia-area ZIPs can diverge from $44,314,231 when some receipts used Cayce or Forest Acres as the city. The 148,057-line count follows the city field.

Limits of the Columbia aggregate

South Carolina state campaigns file under state law. Those receipts are outside $44,314,231 and outside 148,057. Unitemized federal gifts are omitted. Independent expenditures that never appear as contribution itemizations are outside both facts.

Nothing here estimates how Columbia voted. Occupation and recipient live on other FEC fields. Use the city table, then ZIP pages, then the cities index.

Citing COLUMBIA, SC

Name FEC.gov, name contributor city, and print $44,314,231 with 148,057 together. Dropping the state abbreviation invites a merge with another Columbia.

Columbia will keep attracting queries that treat the capital as a proxy for residents. FEC.gov stores a contributor-city field. $44,314,231 across 148,057 lines is what that field sums to in this aggregate. A mean near $299 follows from division. Unique donors are not in the packet. Party is not in the packet. If the live hub disagrees with this snapshot, trust the hub. Open original reports on FEC.gov when a named Columbia receipt matters.

How researchers should use the Columbia hub

Start on the live Columbia city page, then open ZIP pages if a postal cut is the real question. $44,314,231 is the city-string dollar total in this snapshot. 148,057 is the matching line count. Those two numbers move together when FEC.gov amends a receipt. They do not move because a researcher prefers Lexington or West Columbia as the “real” Midlands. Filers typed COLUMBIA. LobbyVault indexed COLUMBIA. Richland County, the State House, and “the Midlands” are useful for maps and news copy. They are not FEC dimensions on this hub.

A mean near $299 is only $44,314,231 divided by 148,057. It is not a typical Columbia household gift, not a typical state-employee gift, and not a typical campus gift. Occupation is a different FEC field. Recipient is a different FEC field. Party is a different FEC field. None of those fields are in this packet. Do not infer them from the mean. Do not infer turnout. Do not infer that Columbia is more or less “politically active” than Charleston because the line counts differ. Charleston is a different city string if filers typed it.

Cite the pair in one sentence: contributor city COLUMBIA, SC, $44,314,231, 148,057 itemized federal contributions, source FEC.gov via LobbyVault. Keep SC on the citation so the key is not merged with Columbia, Missouri. If a later extract on the live hub prints a different pair, discard this snapshot. Original PDFs and electronic filings remain on FEC.gov for any named Columbia receipt that needs a line-by-line check. South Carolina non-federal filings never enter either fact. Unitemized federal gifts never enter either fact. Independent expenditures that are not contribution itemizations never enter either fact. That is the full scope of this city page.

Questions

What is Columbia’s federal contribution total on LobbyVault?

Itemized FEC.gov receipts listing contributor city COLUMBIA, SC total $44,314,231 across 148,057 contributions. That pair is a city-string roll-up of federal Schedule A rows, not a unique-donor count and not a census of Columbia residents. Unitemized gifts sit outside both figures.

How should I read Columbia’s 148,057 contributions?

LobbyVault counts 148,057 itemized lines for COLUMBIA, SC. That is a line count, not a headcount of unique people. Repeat gifts and memo entries can add rows without adding donors. This packet publishes no unique-donor figure. The matching dollar total is $44,314,231.

Does Columbia’s total include Lexington or Charleston?

Only if the filer typed COLUMBIA. Lexington, West Columbia, and Charleston are separate city strings when they appear that way on the receipt. $44,314,231 is the COLUMBIA, SC match. The 148,057 lines follow the same rule. Metro labels are not an FEC dimension on this hub.

Where do the Columbia facts come from?

Both facts come from FEC.gov itemized contribution aggregates indexed on LobbyVault: $44,314,231 and 148,057 lines. Original reports remain on FEC.gov. South Carolina non-federal filings are outside the pair. If a later extract disagrees, the Commission’s filing controls. The mean of about $299 is arithmetic from those two packet numbers.