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 → Guide 02Political 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 → Guide 03The differences between traditional PACs, Super PACs, and independent spending, plus the no-coordination rule that holds the whole structure together.
Read the guide → Guide 04The 2010 Supreme Court ruling on corporate political spending, the precedents it overturned, and the debate over corporations as legal persons.
Read the guide → Guide 05Individual 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 → Guide 06The Federal Election Commission explained: its origins after Watergate, its bipartisan structure, what it does, and the limits of its authority.
Read the guide → Guide 07From the Tillman Act and Watergate to Buckley, McCain-Feingold, and Citizens United, the century of reforms that built today's rules.
Read the guide → Guide 08A practical guide to campaign finance reports: the summary page, itemized versus unitemized contributions, receipts, disbursements, and the filing calendar.
Read the guide → Guide 09Who 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 → Guide 10The 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 top-tier battlegrounds.
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.