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LOBBYIST

Total Donated

$4,325,023

Contributions

9,380

Unique Donors

316

Top Employer

LOBBYIST

People who wrote LOBBYIST in the employer or occupation field on federal campaign filings account for $4,325,023 in itemized receipts on FEC.gov. LobbyVault counts 9,380 contributions and 316 donors. Mean gift size is about $461; mean per donor is about $13,687. The title is a self-report on a contribution form. It is not LDA lobbying spend, not a NAICS government-relations code, and not a client’s political budget.

Key figures

  • LOBBYIST FEC strings sum to $4,325,023.
  • 9,380 contributions came from 316 donors.
  • About $461 per gift and $13,687 per donor on a simple mean.
  • The total is FEC gifts, not LDA lobbying spend.
  • POLITICAL CONSULTANT is a separate string cluster.

316 donors and $4,325,023

Three hundred sixteen unique people produced 9,380 contributions, about 30 itemized gifts per person. $4,325,023 ÷ 316 ≈ $13,687 per donor. Top employer is LOBBYIST, so many filers put the title in the employer box rather than a firm name. K Street shop names, trade associations, and in-house government-relations titles sit on other slugs if typed instead.

LDA registrations and FEC contribution records are different disclosure systems. This $4,325,023 is FEC itemized receipts tagged to the word LOBBYIST. It is not a sum of reported lobbying income.

Keep this string apart from political consultant

POLITICAL CONSULTANT is a neighboring industry key with its own packet and total. The facts here do not identify people who used both labels across filings. Adding the two string totals would double-count an unknown share. This page stays at $4,325,023, 9,380 contributions, and 316 donors.

Industry labels come from FEC employer/occupation self-reports, not NAICS. Occupation breakdowns are the companion title index.

Full analysis: Lobbyist money in federal elections

Questions

How much have lobbyist-labeled filers given federally?
The LOBBYIST industry cluster totals $4,325,023 in itemized FEC contributions, from 9,380 contributions and 316 donors. Filers wrote LOBBYIST in employer or occupation. The figure is their disclosed gifts on FEC.gov, not LDA lobbying expenditures. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer/occupation string as indexed on LobbyVault from FEC.gov. Unitemized gifts, state filings, and lobbying reports are omitted and are not added to the itemized total cited here.
Is this the same as lobbying disclosure totals?
No. Lobbying reports under the LDA are a different dataset. This page sums $4,325,023 in FEC itemized contributions tagged to the LOBBYIST self-report string. It does not measure fees billed to clients. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer/occupation string as indexed on LobbyVault from FEC.gov. Unitemized gifts, state filings, and lobbying reports are omitted and are not added to the itemized total cited here.
Should I add political consultant donations to this total?
No. POLITICAL CONSULTANT is a separate industry key. The packets do not identify overlapping donors. This page’s facts are $4,325,023, 9,380 contributions, and 316 donors for LOBBYIST only. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer/occupation string as indexed on LobbyVault from FEC.gov. Unitemized gifts, state filings, and lobbying reports are omitted and are not added to the itemized total cited here.
How many unique lobbyist-labeled donors are there?
LobbyVault counts 316 donors and 9,380 contributions. Unique-donor count is matching disclosure text, not a count of LDA registrants. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer/occupation string as indexed on LobbyVault from FEC.gov. Unitemized gifts, state filings, and lobbying reports are omitted and are not added to the itemized total cited here.

Industry labels come from FEC employer/occupation self-reports, not NAICS. Data from FEC.gov via LobbyVault.

Cycle-over-Cycle Trend

LOBBYIST political contributions by election cycle.
CycleTotalContributionsDonors
1980$2,54065
1984$2,30032
1986$1,00022
1988$1,00021
1990$5,50063
1992$8,70063
1994$3,50042
1998$50011
2000$1,00011
2004$1,50021
2006$4,50072
2008$4,55072
2010$5,250132
2012$4,25072
2014$8,000102

Top Donors

Top LOBBYIST donors ranked by total donated.
#NameTotalContributionsCity / StateOccupationHistory
1MAPES, M L$1,0001BATON ROUGE, LA1980
2CIANCIO, FRANK A$5402WESTMINSTER, CO1980
3LONG, MARK A$5001ARLINGTON, VA1980
4KIMBROUGH, H C MR$4002CASTLE ROCK, CO1980
5GARIBALDI, JAMES D$25011980
6HEWITT, PATRICIA$2501SACRAMENTO, CA1980

Top Recipients

Top political committees that received LOBBYIST donations.
#CommitteeTotalContributions
1JSTREETPACC00441949$41,5001
2HILLARY VICTORY FUNDC00586537$6,4501
3DNC SERVICES CORP / DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEEC00010603$5,0001
4HOAGLAND FOR CONGRESSC00252601$4,0001
5ELISSA SLOTKIN FOR CONGRESSC00650150$3,7001
6OBAMA VICTORY FUNDC00451393$2,8001
7OBAMA VICTORY FUND 2012C00494740$2,5001
8ANDY KIM FOR NEW JERSEYC00648220$2,0001
9BOB CASEY FOR PENNSYLVANIA COMMITTEEC00410225$2,0001
10DIGNITY OF WORK PACC00264697$2,0001
11PETER HOAGLAND FOR CONGRESS '90C00238113$2,0001
12BETO FOR TEXASC00501197$1,7501
13ACTBLUEC00401224$1,7001
14LISA MURKOWSKI FOR US SENATEC00384529$1,5001
15CRANSTON FOR SENATE '92 INCC00138743$1,5001
16MAGGIE FOR NHC00588772$1,2501
17TAMMY FOR ILLINOISC00574889$1,2501
18FRIENDS OF GORDON SMITHC00383554$1,2501
19FIGHT FOR THE PEOPLE PACC00703975$1,2001
20JON OSSOFF FOR SENATEC00718866$1,2001
21DELGADO FOR CONGRESSC00633859$1,1001
22TAMMY BALDWIN FOR SENATEC00326801$1,0001
23CRAIG THOMAS FOR CONGRESS INCC00236125$1,0001
24HYATT FOR SENATE COMMITTEEC00253203$1,0001
25DONNA EDWARDS FOR SENATEC00574145$1,0001