2020 Presidential Race

The Situation:

This is it. The 2020 election cycle is finally upon us, and this past year, The Center for Responsive Politics created a brand new 2020 Presidential Race page to accompany our already highly sourced Election Overview page. It’s on this featured page where you can find out who raised the most money, where it came from, the most (and least) expensive races, top donors, how incumbents did versus challengers and more.

In this cycle, perhaps more than any before it, the sum of money is going to be absolutely tremendous. Already 2020 presidential candidates have raised over $600 million for next year’s election. And with a proliferation of super PACs and 501(c)(4) groups pouring huge sums into campaigns – approximately $60 million thus far – it's critical to have these reliable and handy sources of information on campaign spending. OpenSecrets.org is the go-to site for this data because it’s trustworthy, accessible and well-presented.

Politicians solicit votes, but they also solicit money. And while an individual's vote carries an expectation that the candidate will look out for constituents' interests if elected, a campaign contribution may carry an expectation that the money will get repaid in the form of favorable legislation, less stringent regulations, political appointments, government contracts or tax credits, to name a few forms of payback. We created these databases so that you the citizen can see where all the money coming from, who is giving it, and who is receiving it.

How you can help:

We want to keep OpenSecrets.org the most revolutionized political reporting website by making the money connections between special interests and candidates for public office as easy as possible to follow. Information is power and affects how we relate to our politics. We strive to keep these data sets in the Politicians and Elections section of our site of the highest quality for all who care about honesty in campaign finance.

With your help, we will:

●    Hasten our ability to report where presidential candidates are raising their money - the industries, the states and metro areas-and how they're spending it – right after they complete their quarterly filings.

●    Identify and report on outside spending on the 2020 primaries and general election to give users a complete picture of how much money is flowing into races from groups not officially coordinating with candidate committees.

●    Track the relatively recent phenomenon of multiple candidates swearing off PAC money private, high-dollar fundraisers and are completely relying on grassroots donations. And additionally, analyzing the power of the digitally-driven small-dollar model and the effects it will have on presidential fundraising.