PurchasingPolicy.orgBetaA fraction of one percent of Americans pays for our politics. See what it buys.
In the 2024 federal elections, donors who gave $2,600 or more — about 0.14% of the U.S. population — supplied $8.1 billion, more than three-quarters of all itemized individual giving. (OpenSecrets) Eight in ten Americans, across both parties, say those donors have too much influence in Washington. (Pew Research Center)
This project turns that debate into something you can check: a graph of 531,148 entities and 297,405 documented connections that traces money from donor to PAC to candidate — and on to the votes, regulations, federal contracts, and lobbying campaigns that follow. Built from FEC filings, the Federal Register, USASpending.gov, Congressional voting records, and lobbying disclosures.
OpenSecrets found $52 million of outside money in one Senate primary. We followed it one layer further — and it stops.
The United Democracy Project’s $80.3 million war chest is usually described as pro-Israel donor money. Itemized, it is more specific than that: AIPAC’s own 501(c)(4) treasury supplied $51.6 million of it in direct transfers since 2022 — including $25 million on a single day in September 2025. Because that 501(c)(4) is a nonprofit and does not disclose its own donors, more than a third of the money behind the blitz is, in disclosure terms, a dead end by design.
The lettuce outbreak story is a million-dollar check and a dinner. The record is longer, and worse.
Before contaminated lettuce reached American consumers, the numeric water-safety standard had been deleted and the traceability rule defunded. This study reads the contribution ledger, the lobbying filings, and the rulemaking calendar side by side, every figure verified against the FEC and the Senate lobbying database.
Ten donors. $880.9M in tracked giving.
These ten are among the largest individual donors tracked in this database — out of 405,665 individual donors in the graph. Their giving spans both parties and every major spending vehicle. Each card shows where the largest share of their tracked money went; click through to see the donor's full network — the PACs they fund, the candidates those PACs support or oppose, and the policy record that follows.
Tracked totals are FEC-itemized federal contributions ingested into this database, deduplicated for amended filings, spanning the 2016–2024 cycles — coverage varies by donor, so these are a floor, not a full-cycle total, and will differ from figures reported elsewhere. Cross-reference: OpenSecrets, Biggest Donors, 2024 cycle. See methodology.
The crypto industry, 2024–2026: from checks to law in eighteen months.
One industry, one election cycle, one complete chain in the data — donors to PACs, PACs to races, races to legislation, legislation to the agency rulebook. Every step below links into the graph. Crypto corporations put more than $170M into intervening in 2024 congressional races, more than a third of all disclosed corporate election spending that cycle (Public Citizen).
The money goes in
The money is spent
The seats change
The rules change
Correlation is not proof of causation — but every link in this chain is a public record: an FEC filing, a certified election result, a roll-call vote, a Federal Register entry. Follow it yourself.
Open this network in the graph→Concentrated money doesn't just elect. It removes.
Independent-expenditure campaigns funded by a handful of donors decided who appeared on November ballots at all. Three documented removals from the 2024 cycle — and one reminder that money doesn't always win.
Jamaal Bowman
Cori Bush
Katie Porter
Money isn't destiny
"Tracked" figures are the independent-expenditure filings ingested into this database and can undercount full-cycle totals reported by the FEC. Every figure links to its filings on the entity page.
Americans of both parties think money runs Washington. This data lets you check.
Public opinion tells you what Americans believe. Public records tell you what actually happened. This project connects the two — so the debate about money in politics can run on receipts instead of suspicion.
Pick a thread. Pull it.
Not sure where to start? These investigations drop you into the graph at a key entity. Click any node to expand its connections — donors reveal their PACs, PACs reveal their candidates, candidates reveal their votes and the government contracts they steer. Pull corporate records on any donor. Go wherever the data takes you.
Follow AIPAC’s money
See how $100M+ flowed from donors through AIPAC’s PAC network to reshape Congressional primaries
Trace crypto to the Senate
Fairshake and affiliates spent $135M+ backing crypto-friendly candidates — see who gave, who won, and what changed
Defense contractor loop
Defense companies donate to Armed Services Committee members who approve their contracts — trace the donations and pull the USASpending.gov contract data
Your investigation. The government's data. We organized it and built the tool so you can explore it.
Search any name
Type a donor, PAC, candidate, company, or agency. The graph loads every documented connection — donations, federal contracts, corporate filings, and voting records.
Click any node to dig deeper
Every node is a doorway. Click a PAC to see who funds it. Click a candidate to see their donors, their votes, and the government contracts awarded to their backers.
Follow the chain wherever it leads
Trace money from corporate donor to PAC to candidate to federal contract. Pull corporate records from OpenCorporates. Every link cites FEC filings, USASpending.gov, Congressional records, or lobbying disclosures.
One donor put more behind U.S.-Israel policy than any other.
The casino heiress who became a one-woman lobby.
Miriam Adelson inherited the Las Vegas Sands fortune from her late husband Sheldon Adelson and continued his role as the largest single Republican donor advocating for U.S. security support to Israel. Her donations dwarf the giving of pro-Israel PACs.
$25 million to the cause she cares about most.
Across the 2024 cycle Adelson directed at least $25 million in disclosed federal contributions toward candidates and causes aligned with the U.S.-Israel security relationship and Jewish-community priorities, including support for the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act and the Antisemitism Awareness Act.
The bills she advocated for passed.
Both of her top-priority bills cleared the chambers in 2024. Her giving aligns with positions taken publicly by the candidates she supported.
- Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R.8034) — enacted
- Antisemitism Awareness Act (H.R.6090) — passed House
- Backed candidates who voted YES on both bills
- Continues the political program of the late Sheldon Adelson
Different industry. Same playbook.
Crypto bought the Senate Banking subcommittee. Defense contractors fund the members who approve their contracts — and we track both the donations and the federal contracts via USASpending.gov. Israel-lobby PACs reshape the Democratic caucus through primary spending. Each card traces money in to the policy out, with corporate records from OpenCorporates on every donor.
Crypto super PACs spent $135M+ to reshape Congress
AIPAC set spending records to reshape the Democratic caucus
Defense contractors funded the lawmakers who approve their contracts
Corporate-funded research became the basis for legislation
Rules being written. Rules being torn up.
Federal regulations don't live in a vacuum. Every comment period draws lobbyists, trade associations, and citizen groups arguing for and against. Below, the rules with the most fought-over comment trails — and the rules that got rolled back this cycle.
Basel III Endgame Capital Rules (Fed/OCC/FDIC proposal)
proposed59 positions recorded+ STRUCTURED FINANCE ASSOCIATION+ TD BANK, NA− MCHENRY FOR CONGRESS− Finance and banking industryMARCH-IN Rights Proposal (NIH Framework)
proposed59 positions recorded+ INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OWNERS ASS…+ NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR RARE D…Overdraft/NSF Fee Reforms (CFPB)
proposed38 positions recorded+ CREDIT UNION NATIONAL ASSOCIATIO…+ CENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE LENDING A…Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Reform (CMS)
proposed5 positions recorded+ REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE+ ROBERT BOSCH LLC− Insurance industryReal-Time Public Reporting Requirements and Swap Data Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements
proposedDaily Computation of Customer and Broker-Dealer Reserve Requirements under the Broker-Dealer Customer Protection Rule
proposed
Request From States for Removal of Gasoline Volatility Waiver
repealedEnvironmental Protection Agency·25 positions recorded+ ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND COMPANY+ AMERICAN SOYBEAN ASSOCIATIONDefense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement: Removal of Pilot Program for Acquisition of Military-Purpose Nondevelopmental Items (DFARS Case 2022-D022)
repealedDefense DepartmentInterstate Commerce Commission Regulations; Removal of Chapter
repealedFederal Register Office