Where the money comes from
Every cash donation to a Democratic or Republican candidate since 2023 that was reported with the donor's name and ZIP — $129.4M of it — rising from where it came from. Taller bars mean more dollars; blue went to Democrats, red to Republicans. Drag to orbit, hover any bar, or press Play for the guided tour.
Where this committee's money comes from — not a trace of the specific dollars it gave (money is fungible).
Where it comes from, by state
- Iowa $77.4M
- District of Columbia $35.8M
- California $3.9M
- Florida $3.5M
- New York $2.1M
- Illinois $1.8M
- Texas $1.7M
- South Dakota $0.8M
- Tennessee $0.8M
- Wisconsin $0.8M
- Minnesota $0.7M
- Pennsylvania $0.6M
What's on this map, and what isn't
- $129.4M — drawn on the map (85%)
- $6.1M — counted here, but the donor's ZIP can't be placed (4%)
- $101k — ZIP clusters under $50, too small to draw (0%)
- $832k — interest campaigns' own bank accounts earned — filed under the bank's name, income rather than a donation, so it's excluded from the map (1%)
- $16.3M — reported by the candidate, but Iowa never lists these donors one by one — gifts of $25 or less, plus filings not yet itemized (11%)
How to read this
What's on the map. Every cash donation to a Democratic or Republican candidate reported with the donor's name and ZIP, rising from where it came from and flowing to the Capitol. Taller bars and bigger streams mean more dollars; color is the party that received it. The map places $129.4M of the $135.7M such donations — $6.1M lacks a usable ZIP, so it counts in the figures but isn't drawn. Money to everyone else on the ballot and in the system — PACs, party committees, ballot-issue and local committees, and third-party candidates — is a further $87.6M that this map does not show; the money page covers those.
Cash only, on purpose. These same candidates also received $27.4M that isn't a donation and isn't on this map: $24.5M in donated goods and services — campaign staff, mail, polling — and $2.9M in loans candidates made to their own campaigns, which is their own money, not anyone's gift. The in-kind figure matters most for the parties: $22.3M of the two state party committees' support to their candidates arrives as goods and services rather than checks, so a cash map alone would make party help look far smaller than it is.
Of the individual money below, $6.4M to Republican candidates and $10.5M to Democratic candidates is from recent rows read from the Ethics Board's public search, which does not say whether a giver is a person or an organization; we count a giver there as an individual unless the state's older records list the name as an organization or the name is plainly one. Two very different streams feed Iowa campaigns. Individuals give small — out-of-state gifts average about $171 — and that money leans Democratic. PACs, parties and other groups write far bigger checks, and that money leans Republican: $48.7M to Republicans vs. $16.3M to Democrats. Of the money the map can place, in-state is the bulk — $72.4M of it vs. $57.0M from beyond Iowa. One caveat the map makes honest: an individual's dot is their real home, but a PAC's dot is its registered address (often Des Moines or D.C.) — so institutional money clusters where committees incorporate, not where its donors live. Where a committee also files federally, we name the corporation or union behind the PAC from FEC records — open the Sponsors (FEC) view above.