Montana campaign finance next to $50.2 billion in federal obligations

Montana as a two-column public record

The join key is MT. One column is candidate receipts from FEC.gov. The other is obligations from USAspending.gov. Readers who search “Montana campaign money” and “Montana federal spending” in the same sitting get both numbers here, with the instruction that they do not net.

Republican committees hold $4,964,316.69 (22.8% of $21,796,239.60). Other-party committees hold $2,464,018.92 (11.3%). The other-party slice is large enough to keep as a third figure rather than folding it into a two-party story. Two hundred fifty filers produced the receipt total.

One hundred twenty-five thousand three hundred sixty-four awards sit under $50.2 billion. The obligation total is about 2,302 times the candidate-receipt total. The multiple is arithmetic from the packet. It is not a measure of Montana’s political “return” on fundraising.

FEC receipts: $21.8 million, 250 committees

Inflows of $21.8 million are what Montana-tagged federal candidate committees disclosed. They are not cash on hand, not independent expenditures, and not a donor-state roll-up of every Montana address. The Montana campaign finance hub is the committee-level table.

Montana Commissioner of Political Practices filings for state offices are outside FEC.gov. They are not in the $21.8 million and they are not in the $50.2 billion.

USAspending: 125,364 awards, $50.2 billion

Award count in Montana is high relative to some smaller-population states in this series that show fewer rows. This packet does not attribute that row count to a program family. The Montana USAspending hub is where agency and award-type detail lives.

Place-of-performance tags, recipient locations, and funding-agency geography can each move a dollar into or out of a state total. The $50,181,601,136.29 is the roll-up as indexed, not a household census.

One hundred twenty-five thousand three hundred sixty-four awards against $50,181,601,136.29 is a high row count next to a $21.8 million FEC book. High row count can include many small assistance awards; this packet does not confirm that. The Montana USAspending hub holds program and agency rows.

Place-of-performance on federal land, reservations, and assistance awards can all feed the MT tag. This page does not split those channels. The $50.2 billion is the indexed state total, not a list of the 250 FEC committees.

Correlation is not a funding story

A Democratic-leaning receipt file next to a large obligation file is two facts, not a causal chain. USAspending does not store FEC party codes. FEC does not store award IDs. Do not rank Montana as more or less federally “dependent” from this page; the packet has no per-capita field.

Fiscal years and election cycles remain misaligned clocks. Live hubs override this snapshot when filings amend.

Democratic receipts of $14,367,903.99 (65.9% of $21,796,239.60) are the majority of the FEC column. Republican receipts of $4,964,316.69 (22.8%) and other-party receipts of $2,464,018.92 (11.3%) complete the roll-up. The 11.3% other-party slice is large enough to keep as a third figure. None of those percentages apply to 125,364 awards.

Montana Commissioner of Political Practices filings for state offices are outside FEC.gov and outside USAspending. This join uses the two federal extracts only.

Hubs for each ledger

Montana campaign finance for FEC receipts. All FEC ties for other state joins. Montana USAspending for obligations. Cite FEC.gov and USAspending.gov.

Montana campaign finance for the 250-committee FEC file. All FEC ties for other geography joins. Montana USAspending for the 125,364-award file. Cite FEC.gov and USAspending.gov. Do not net $21,796,239.60 against $50,181,601,136.29.

Population and GDP are not packet fields. This page will not rank Montana as more or less federally dependent.

How to cite Montana’s two public records

A complete citation: 250 Montana-tagged federal candidate committees reported $21,796,239.60 on FEC.gov; USAspending.gov records $50,181,601,136.29 across 125,364 awards tagged to Montana. Party receipts are $14,367,903.99 Democratic, $4,964,316.69 Republican, and $2,464,018.92 other. The about-2,302-to-1 ratio is scale, not a donation-to-award pipeline.

Candidate receipts are inflows. Obligations are recorded commitments. FEC cycles and USAspending fiscal years remain different clocks. Those gaps are why the columns stay adjacent rather than combined.

Live hubs override this snapshot after amendments. Quote the hubs when the packet and the live table disagree.

Questions

How much have Montana federal candidates raised?

Montana-associated federal candidate committees reported $21,796,239.60 across 250 filers. Democratic committees reported $14,367,903.99, Republican committees $4,964,316.69, and other-party committees $2,464,018.92, according to FEC.gov via LobbyVault.

How much federal spending is tagged to Montana?

USAspending.gov records $50,181,601,136.29 in obligations across 125,364 awards tagged to Montana, as indexed on SpendingVault. That series is not derived from FEC receipts.

Do Montana donations pay for federal grants or contracts?

No. The $21.8 million in candidate receipts and the $50.2 billion in obligations come from different agencies and forms. This page joins them on Montana geography only.

What is Montana’s other-party receipt share?

Other-party and unaffiliated candidate committees reported $2,464,018.92, or 11.3% of $21,796,239.60. That is the FEC party-code roll-up as filed.