ZIP 20854: $132.8 million across 152,232 FEC lines

A Montgomery County volume ZIP

$132,815,142 divided by 152,232 is about $872 per itemized line. That mean is closer to D.C. residential-looking ZIPs than to downtown concentration ZIPs. 20854 is a long receipt list. Large PAC or joint-fundraising rows can still sit inside $132,815,142. They are diluted in the average by 152,232 lines.

One hundred fifty-two thousand two hundred thirty-two contributions is an itemization count, not a unique-person count. Repeat givers and household pairs can lengthen the list. This packet has no donor headcount. Cite 152,232 as a contribution-line total, not a census of Potomac.

No party split is published on $132,815,142. Close-in Maryland geography is orientation. It is not an FEC finding about suburban ideology. The Commission stores a ZIP string.

20854 is not 20815 or 22101

Chevy Chase 20815 and McLean 22101 are separate FEC keys with their own totals. This page cites only 20854. Adding inner-suburb ZIPs is a recode. FEC.gov did not publish a combined Maryland-Virginia figure here.

A PAC or joint fundraising committee that lists a Potomac address still posts 20854 when that is the ZIP on Schedule A. Household rows add the same way. Open the ZIP 20854 FEC page for named receipts rather than inferring the mix from the mean.

What $132,815,142 leaves out

Unitemized federal gifts are omitted. Maryland state-office campaigns are omitted. Independent expenditures paid from another ZIP are omitted even if they mention a Maryland race. Cite $132,815,142 only as itemized federal receipts tagged 20854, sourced from FEC.gov.

A long line list can absorb small amendments. A restated joint-fundraising block can still move the headline. Recheck the live ZIP 20854 FEC page after large filings. This prose is a snapshot of FEC.gov aggregates indexed on LobbyVault.

Committee mail in Potomac, Maryland is why the residential reading of $132,815,142 fails. A PAC, a joint fundraising committee, or a work address that lists 20854 is counted. FEC.gov stored the ZIP that was filed. LobbyVault summed it. Recoding those rows out of $132,815,142 would be a new dataset.

20854 in the ZIP ranking

The all-ZIP directory ranks dollars. Compare 152,232 lines against other inner-suburb codes as filing shape. Do not convert that comparison into a claim about which ZIP is more politically active. FEC.gov does not score activity.

Independent expenditures mentioning a race near Potomac, Maryland can be paid by a committee with a different ZIP. Those disbursements do not move $132,815,142. Mixing independent-expenditure tables with this ZIP total double-counts some activity and misses other activity. Keep the series separate.

Source tables

The ZIP 20854 FEC page holds $132,815,142 and 152,232 as currently indexed. The all-ZIP directory ranks other codes. The donor directory lists names on itemized rows. If a later extract disagrees, FEC.gov controls. No horse-farm or embassy-row narrative is attached to the ZIP field.

Title, H1, and table on the live hub should show the same $132,815,142 and 152,232 this guide cites. If they do not, the hub was rebuilt from a newer extract. Trust the hub over this paragraph. Guides are snapshots of FEC.gov aggregates indexed on LobbyVault.

How to cite ZIP 20854 without inflating Potomac, Maryland

The accurate citation is: itemized federal receipts with contributor ZIP 20854 total $132,815,142 across 152,232 contributions, according to FEC.gov aggregates indexed on LobbyVault. Shorthand such as “Potomac, Maryland donated $132,815,142” drops the itemized-only limit and the PAC-address caveat. Keep both limits in the sentence at least once.

A mean of about $872 describes a high-volume suburban ZIP. It does not describe a median resident. Because this packet has no unique-donor count, 152,232 stays a line count. Researchers who need persons must match names on the ZIP 20854 FEC page rather than dividing $132,815,142 by a guessed household count.

ZIP 20854 will keep attracting “how much did Potomac give” queries because searchers use ZIP as a proxy for a neighborhood. FEC.gov does not use ZIP that way. It stores a five-digit contributor field. $132,815,142 across 152,232 lines is what that field sums to in this aggregate. A mean near $872 follows from division. Unique donors are not in the packet. Party is not in the packet. The PAC and joint-fundraising caveat is in the source note and belongs in any careful citation. Use the all-ZIP directory only to compare other codes on the same series. Use the donor directory for names. If the live hub reprints a different $132,815,142 or 152,232, the newer FEC extract wins and this snapshot is stale.

Questions

How much federal campaign money is tied to ZIP 20854?

FEC.gov itemized receipts listing contributor ZIP 20854 total $132,815,142 across 152,232 contributions in the LobbyVault aggregate. That figure is a ZIP roll-up of federal Schedule A rows, not a unique-donor count and not a census of people who live in Potomac, Maryland. Joint fundraising committees and PAC addresses can appear in $132,815,142 when that five-digit code was filed. Unitemized gifts sit outside it.

How many FEC contributions are tagged to ZIP 20854?

LobbyVault counts 152,232 itemized contributions for ZIP 20854. That is a line count, not a headcount of unique people. Repeat gifts, redesignations, and memo entries can add rows without adding new donors. This packet does not publish a unique-donor figure, so 152,232 should not be quoted as a population. The matching dollar total on the same extract is $132,815,142.

Does ZIP 20854 include only residents of Potomac, Maryland?

No. The ZIP is the five-digit contributor code on the FEC itemization. PAC mail drops, joint fundraising committees, and office addresses in Potomac, Maryland can be part of $132,815,142 when 20854 is what was filed. LobbyVault does not recode the field into a residential-only book. The 152,232-line count follows the same rule. Open named receipts on the ZIP hub to see which committees appear.

Where does LobbyVault get ZIP 20854 totals?

The numbers come from FEC.gov itemized contribution aggregates indexed on LobbyVault: $132,815,142 and 152,232 lines for ZIP 20854. Original reports remain on FEC.gov. Unitemized federal gifts and non-federal filings from Potomac, Maryland are outside both figures. If a later extract disagrees with this snapshot, the Commission’s filing controls. The mean of about $872 is arithmetic from those two packet facts.