Campaign finance can feel like alphabet soup: PACs, Super PACs, IEs, dark money, Citizens United. These plain-language guides break down how political money actually works in the United States. Everything here is nonpartisan and informational, written to help you read the numbers in our tracker with a clearer eye. No spin, no endorsements, just how the system works and how it came to be.
How the Electoral College, razor-thin margins, and shifting demographics turn a handful of states into the places where elections are decided and where the money flows.
Read the guide →Political action committees explained: where they came from, how they raise and give money, the limits they follow, and what they must disclose to the public.
Read the guide →The differences between traditional PACs, Super PACs, and independent spending, plus the no-coordination rule that holds the whole structure together.
Read the guide →The 2010 Supreme Court ruling on corporate political spending, the precedents it overturned, and the debate over corporations as legal persons.
Read the guide →Individual donors, small-dollar giving, PACs, Super PACs, and dark money, plus the difference between disclosed money and money whose source is hidden.
Read the guide →The Federal Election Commission explained: its origins after Watergate, its bipartisan structure, what it does, and the limits of its authority.
Read the guide →From the Tillman Act and Watergate to Buckley, McCain-Feingold, and Citizens United, the century of reforms that built today's rules.
Read the guide →A practical guide to campaign finance reports: the summary page, itemized versus unitemized contributions, receipts, disbursements, and the filing calendar.
Read the guide →Who can give, how much, and to whom: the base limits, giving to PACs and parties, the McCutcheon decision, and what is not limited at all.
Read the guide →The national committees, the Hill committees, and state parties: how party organizations raise money, support candidates, and shape competitive races.
Read the guide →Why these states decide elections and what is at stake in each in 2026. Nonpartisan profiles of the core battleground states.
Ready to see the numbers? Open the 2026 Campaign Finance Tracker and follow the money in every competitive Senate and House race, live from the FEC.