Follow the money in U.S. politics
Trace who funds politicians and who profits from government spending, PAC contributions, lobbying expenditures by issue, and federal contractor awards, linked across FEC, Senate LDA, and USAspending.gov filings through August 2026.
According to U.S. Federal Election Commission and Senate Office of Public Records filings (as of March 2026), PlainInfluence links 7,124 politicians and 22,531 organizations across campaign-finance, lobbying, and federal-contract records, see our methodology for how figures are sourced.
Top lobbying spenders
- 7,124
- Politicians tracked
- 22,531
- Organizations
- $479.3M
- PAC contributions
- $10.1B
- Lobbying spending
The national picture
Across 7,124 tracked politicians and 22,531 organizations, PlainInfluence links $479.3M in PAC contributions, $10.1B in lobbying, and $4.4B in independent expenditures, one searchable money trail.
- $479.3M
- PAC contributions to candidates
- $10.1B
- federal lobbying spending
- $4.4B
- outside spending (for/against)
- $545.1B
- federal contract awards
Come back to your issue watchlist
Save lobbying issues on any issue page. They stay in this browser only, reopen them here, or copy a shareable link from My watchlist. Filings refresh as new LDA quarters publish (August 2026 vintage on this extract).
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Who spends the most to lobby Washington
Top organizations by reported federal lobbying spend, from Senate LDA filings.
Top lobbying spenders
Contributions vs. lobbying, by organization
Each dot is one of the 40 organizations with both channels active, plotted on the two ways money reaches Washington: direct campaign contributions and reported lobbying spend. The crosshair splits them at the MEDIAN of each ($616K contributions, $22.6M lobbying), not the simple min/max midpoint, so each quadrant holds a real share of the data.
How to read this
- Full-spectrum influence
- Contribution-focused
- Lobbying-focused
- Minor player
Position = campaign contributions (right is more) and lobbying spend (up is more). Color = which of the four zones the organization falls in relative to the median split. The largest organization by lobbying spend is National Association of Realtors.
Top contribution recipients
All politicians →Biggest organizational spenders
All organizations →Top lobbying issues
All issues →Understanding political money
Follow the Money
How to look up any politician's donors using FEC campaign finance data.
Top Government Contractors
Who gets the most federal money and how contract awards work.
Lobbying Explained
Who spends billions to influence policy and how Senate LDA disclosures work.
Campaign Finance 101
PACs, Super PACs, dark money, and how political money flows.
Explore the data
Live database-driven views into U.S. political influence, politicians, organizations, state aggregates, and rankings drawn directly from FEC, lobbying, and contract records. See all rankings.
All politicians
FEC-tracked politicians, sorted live by total contributions received, office, and election cycle.
BrowseState influence profiles
State-level aggregates of contributions, lobbying, and federal contracts from official filings.
RankingsInfluence rankings
Top-N rankings drawn live from the politicians, organizations, and contributions tables.
What to do with this
- Look up how a specific organization's federal influence footprint compares to the 22531 tracked. Browse organizations
- See which politicians received the most in contributions this cycle. Browse politicians
- Compare states on aggregate contributions, lobbying, and federal contracts. State profiles
Every figure traces to a real FEC, LDA, or USASpending filing; no number here is estimated.
Data sourced from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) bulk data (2024 cycle), U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) filings (2023–2024), and USAspending.gov federal contracts. Entity resolution links organizations across all three datasets. This site is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with any government agency.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does PlainInfluence get its political money data?
Data comes from three federal sources: the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for campaign contributions, the U.S. Senate Office of Public Records for lobbying disclosures under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, and USAspending.gov for federal contract awards.
How many politicians and organizations are tracked?
PlainInfluence tracks 7,124 politicians and 22,531 organizations, corporations, PACs, and lobbying firms, linked across campaign-finance, lobbying, and contract records by entity resolution.
Is PlainInfluence free?
Yes. You can search politicians, organizations, and lobbying data with no account or payment. All figures come from public federal disclosures in the public domain.
How current is the lobbying and contribution data?
FEC contribution data and Senate lobbying disclosures update as new filings are released. Lobbying disclosures are filed quarterly; FEC data refreshes on a rolling basis.
About this data
How PlainInfluence works, and why you can trust these numbers
What this site is
PlainInfluence links campaign contributions, lobbying disclosures, and federal contract awards across politicians, organizations, corporations, PACs, and lobbying firms, so readers can trace political money end to end using public federal disclosures.
Editorial process
- Source. Pull FEC bulk campaign-finance data, U.S. Senate Office of Public Records lobbying disclosures (LDA filings), and USAspending.gov federal contract awards directly from each official source.
- Verify. Resolve politicians, organizations, corporations, PACs, and lobbying firms into linked entity records across the three datasets, preserving each record's original filing reference.
- Publish. Build a per-politician and per-organization page showing contributions, lobbying spend, and contract awards side by side, linking back to the original federal filing.
Editorial independence & corrections
The PlainInfluence is independent and accepts no payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from any politician, organization, or lobbying firm. Found an error or a stale figure? File a correction via the contact page; we respond within 72 hours and publish corrections with a visible revision note. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
Frequently asked
Where does PlainInfluence get its political money data?
Data comes from three federal sources: the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for campaign contributions, the U.S. Senate Office of Public Records for lobbying disclosures under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, and USAspending.gov for federal contract awards.
How many politicians and organizations are tracked?
PlainInfluence tracks 7,124 politicians and 22,531 organizations, corporations, PACs, and lobbying firms, linked across campaign-finance, lobbying, and contract records by entity resolution.
Is PlainInfluence free?
Yes. You can search politicians, organizations, and lobbying data with no account or payment. All figures come from public federal disclosures in the public domain.
How current is the lobbying and contribution data?
FEC contribution data and Senate lobbying disclosures update as new filings are released. Lobbying disclosures are filed quarterly; FEC data refreshes on a rolling basis.
Every figure on PlainInfluence is rendered directly from official FEC, Senate LDA and USAspending records, no number is typed in by an editor. Disclosed contributions, lobbying, and contracts are lawful, regulated activities, appearing on this page is not an allegation of wrongdoing. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our disclaimer, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.
Download the federal political-money statistics cited on this page: federal-political-money-statistics.csv (CC0).