Independent candidate receipts — 2020 cycle

How IND and the 2020 cycle meet on candidate filings

This page is a join, not a restatement of either hub. Independent (IND) is one axis. Election cycle 2020 is the other. $36,430,512.29 is only the overlap: candidate receipts that carry both the party code and the cycle. The party overlay still holds $17,190,824.01. The 2020 election-cycle overlay still holds every party that filed in that cycle, which this packet does not publish as a grand total. Independent is the FEC label stored as IND. Filers coded IND in 2020 include federal candidates whose authorized committees reported Form 3 receipts totaling $36,430,512.29.

580 candidate records at a mean of about $62,811.23 per record describe a mix of authorized committees, not a typical campaign budget. Mean is $36,430,512.29 divided by 580. It flattens presidential or statewide committees with House long-shots. 2020 is a presidential election cycle on the FEC calendar. 580 records at the packet mean mix well-funded independents with long-shot Form 3 filers. The packet does not name offices.

Party code IND is the Independent affiliation string on the FEC candidate master, not a count of undeclared voters and not a national Independent party-committee total. Unitemized gifts outside candidate Form 3 receipts, independent expenditures, and Super PAC spending sit outside $36,430,512.29. There is no national Independent party-committee Form 3X inside this join. Candidate affiliation IND and cycle 2020 are the two keys.

IND as the affiliation side of the 2020 join

The Independent hub is $17,190,824.01 in candidate receipts for records coded IND in the indexed window. That hub is not this 2020 cell. Opening only the party page understates the cycle join when the two rollups differ; opening only this tie understates other cycles on the party overlay. The $17,190,824.01 party-wide index is smaller than this 2020 cell. Cite each figure with its label. Do not subtract them.

Candidate records can repeat across cycles, offices, and amendments. 580 is a count of FEC rows in this 2020 IND cell, not a headcount of people currently on a ballot. The packet does not split those rows by office, incumbency, or primary versus general. IND-coded 2018, 2022, and 2026 rows remain on the Independent overlay.

2020 as the cycle side

Cycle 2020 on this page is the FEC election-cycle key attached to Independent candidate receipts totaling $36,430,512.29. It is not turnout, not Electoral College votes, and not a cash-on-hand snapshot. FEC cycle 2020 includes the presidential contest. This packet does not publish vote totals.

The 2020 election-cycle hub includes every party code that appears in that cycle. This join is only IND. Other affiliation strings from the same year are other ties. DEM, REP, and LIB 2020 cells are other ties. Do not add them to $36,430,512.29 on this page.

What the IND–2020 join refuses to say

This page does not count unaffiliated voters, rank independents, or treat receipts as cash on hand. Party plus cycle is a bookkeeping join. Correlation is not causation. A larger 2020 cell than another cycle on a different page is a description of candidate receipts, not voting advice. IND is not a poll of independents. It is a candidate-master party code.

Do not treat $36,430,512.29 as cash on hand. Candidate committees spend, refund, and transfer. This packet has a receipt total, not disbursements. Do not add IND candidate receipts to Super PAC independent expenditures and call the sum party money. Form 3 candidate receipts only. Independent expenditures are omitted.

How to cite the two dollar figures

Quote $36,430,512.29 with Independent and 2020 together. Quote $17,190,824.01 only as the party-wide hub. Do not add them. Do not treat 580 as unique people; it is a candidate-record count and can include repeat filers across offices. Keep $36,430,512.29, 580 records, and party code IND on the same citation.

Independent holds the $17,190,824.01 party overlay. The 2020 election cycle page holds the cycle overlay. All parties and all FEC ties collect other party-cycle pairs from the same two fields. FEC.gov is the source. Party codes are FEC labels. Do not add this cell to the $17,190,824.01 hub. FEC.gov is the source.

Related tables

Independent holds party-wide candidate receipts coded IND. The 2020 election cycle page holds that cycle’s overlay. All parties compares affiliation codes on the same candidate-receipt basis. All FEC ties lists sibling party-and-cycle pages. Independent 2018 and 2022 are other cycle ties, not subsets of 2020.

Questions

How much did Independent candidates raise in 2020?

FEC candidate receipts for Independent (code IND) in the 2020 cycle total $36,430,512.29 across 580 candidate records. The Independent hub in the indexed window is $17,190,824.01. Cite both labels. Do not subtract the cycle cell from the party hub.

Does Independent mean undeclared voters?

No. $36,430,512.29 is authorized-committee candidate receipts with affiliation IND in cycle 2020, not a national party-committee Form 3X total. Independent expenditures are outside this join. Source: FEC.gov aggregates. Party codes and occupation labels are filer-entered. Independent expenditures are omitted.

How many Independent candidates are in the 2020 cell?

The aggregate includes 580 FEC candidate records coded IND in 2020. That is a count of rows, not unique people currently on a ballot, and not a split by office. About $62,811.23 per record is $36,430,512.29 divided by 580. The packet does not further break down the 580.

Should I vote based on 2020 Independent receipts?

No. These figures are public FEC records of candidate receipts by affiliation and cycle. They are not voting advice, not cash on hand, and not independent-expenditure totals. Read the Independent tables and the 2020 election-cycle overlay for the filings.