2024 Political Committees: Insights on Contributions to Nonaffiliated Committees

[even-wei]

I've conducted an analysis on the 2024 campaign finance data, specifically focusing on one question:

Which committee contributed the most transactions to nonaffiliated committees in 2024?

select
  cc.CMTE_ID,
  cm.CMTE_NM,
  cm.CMTE_TP,
  count(*) as TRANSACTION_COUNT,
  sum(TRANSACTION_AMT) as TOTAL_AMT
from 's3://datarecce-todofec/contributions_from_committees_to_candidates_2024.parquet' cc
left join 's3://datarecce-todofec/committee_master_2024.parquet' cm
on cc.CMTE_ID = cm.CMTE_ID
where TRANSACTION_TP='24K'
group by all
order by TRANSACTION_COUNT desc;

/*
┌───────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────┐
│  CMTE_ID  │                                         CMTE_NM                                         │ CMTE_TP │ TRANSACTION_COUNT │   TOTAL_AMT   │
│  varchar  │                                         varchar                                         │ varchar │       int64       │ decimal(38,2) │
├───────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────┤
│ C00694323 │ WINRED                                                                                  │ V       │            293454 │   -8233838.00 │
│ C00797670 │ AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE                     │ Q       │              6306 │    5056991.00 │
│ C00552851 │ HOUSE FREEDOM FUND                                                                      │ Q       │              1805 │     436829.00 │
│ C00030718 │ NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE                             │ Q       │              1270 │    3455750.00 │
│ C00002972 │ NATIONAL RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION AMERICA'S ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES PAC     │ Q       │              1234 │    1735400.00 │
│ C00142711 │ THE BOEING COMPANY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE                                           │ Q       │              1226 │    1497500.00 │
│ C00238725 │ NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION PAC                                        │ Q       │              1161 │    1909500.00 │
│ C00303024 │ LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION EMPLOYEES' POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE                       │ Q       │              1144 │    1305500.00 │
│ C00144766 │ NATIONAL BEER WHOLESALERS ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE                        │ Q       │              1086 │    2371500.00 │
│ C00004275 │ AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION PAC (BANKPAC)                                              │ Q       │              1051 │    2149999.00 │
│ C00109017 │ AT&T INC. EMPLOYEE FEDERAL POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (AT&T EMPLOYEE FEDERAL PAC)       │ Q       │               981 │    1949000.00 │
│ C00106146 │ AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION PAC                                                       │ Q       │               977 │    1766250.00 │
│ C00010868 │ AMERICAN COUNCIL OF ENGINEERING COMPANIES (ACEC/PAC)                                    │ Q       │               948 │    1913025.00 │
│ C00024521 │ AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR JUSTICE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (AAJ PAC)                   │ Q       │               879 │    2066000.00 │
│ C00007880 │ AMERICA'S CREDIT UNIONS PAC OF CREDIT UNION NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, INC.                  │ Q       │               849 │    2172500.00 │
│ C00078451 │ GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (GENERAL DYNAMICS EMPLOYEE PAC) │ Q       │               840 │    1187000.00 │
│ C00097568 │ EMPLOYEES OF RTX CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE                                 │ Q       │               826 │    1083000.00 │
│ C00096156 │ HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE                                      │ Q       │               817 │    1680500.00 │
│ C00186288 │ VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS, INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (VERIZON PAC)                   │ Q       │               790 │    1337000.00 │
│ C00093054 │ WALMART INC. PAC FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT                                             │ Q       │               780 │    1047500.00 │
│     ·     │      ·                                                                                  │ ·       │                 · │          ·    │
│     ·     │      ·                                                                                  │ ·       │                 · │          ·    │
│     ·     │      ·                                                                                  │ ·       │                 · │          ·    │
│ C00761957 │ IN OUR HANDS                                                                            │ N       │                 1 │       1000.00 │
│ C00525873 │ ARNALL GOLDEN GREGORY LLP FEDERAL NONPARTISAN COMMITTEE FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT           │ N       │                 1 │       2500.00 │
│ C00552109 │ THE DOE RUN COMPANY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE                                          │ N       │                 1 │       2500.00 │
│ C00842310 │ LEONARD FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE                                                          │ H       │                 1 │        500.00 │
│ C00722835 │ NEW MISSION LEADERSHIP FUND, INC.                                                       │ W       │                 1 │       1800.00 │
│ C00696799 │ CONTIEM FEDERAL PAC                                                                     │ N       │                 1 │       1000.00 │
│ C00605592 │ PRAMILA FOR CONGRESS                                                                    │ H       │                 1 │       2000.00 │
│ C00082636 │ INDIANA DENTAL ASSOCIATION PAC                                                          │ Q       │                 1 │       2500.00 │
│ C00802298 │ THE PAT HARRIGAN COMMITTEE                                                              │ H       │                 1 │        250.00 │
│ C00724286 │ NEXUS PAC                                                                               │ N       │                 1 │       1000.00 │
│ C00856864 │ OHIO SENATE VICTORY 2024                                                                │ N       │                 1 │      49000.00 │
│ C00691584 │ CATALYST PAC                                                                            │ V       │                 1 │       2500.00 │
│ C00290304 │ FREEDOM'S HERITAGE FORUM                                                                │ Q       │                 1 │        -50.00 │
│ C00323923 │ STONEWALL DEMOCRATIC CLUB FED PAC                                                       │ Q       │                 1 │        100.00 │
│ C00233361 │ MARIN COUNTY REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE (FEDERAL)                                     │ Y       │                 1 │        458.00 │
│ C00236588 │ GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL MUTUAL POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (AKA GPM PAC)                    │ N       │                 1 │        250.00 │
│ C00265033 │ CALIFORNIA STATE PIPE TRADES COUNCIL VOLUNTARY POLITICAL ACTION FUND                    │ Q       │                 1 │       5000.00 │
│ C00637322 │ PAR PACIFIC HOLDINGS INC PAC                                                            │ N       │                 1 │       1000.00 │
│ C00395350 │ NATIONAL REVERSE MORTGAGE LENDERS ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE                │ Q       │                 1 │       1000.00 │
│ C00867317 │ KENMITCHELLFORVA                                                                        │ H       │                 1 │        250.00 │
├───────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────┤
│ 4186 rows (40 shown)                                                                                                                    5 columns │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
*/

Discussion Points:

1. WINRED's Financial Operations: What causes the discrepancy between WINRED's large transaction count and its negative total contributions? Could this indicate mass refunds, canceled transactions, or issues with reporting?

2. Corporate PACs and Policy Influence: The presence of corporate PACs among top contributors raises questions about how corporate money shapes political agendas. How do these contributions translate into policy influence or legislative outcomes?

3. Strategic Contributions by Interest Groups: AIPAC’s significant financial presence suggests a strategic focus on influencing election results. What are the broader implications of interest group money in shaping U.S. politics?

[risafangs]

I’m really interested in the large negative value for WINRED. Looking at the contributions_from_committees_to_candidates_2024 file, it looks like there is a tran_id (transaction id) data source that could be more illuminating. I’m also curious about whether you see the negative numbers coming predominantly from a specific candidate.

└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
D select * from read_parquet('s3://datarecce-todofec/contributions_from_committees_to_candidates_2024.parquet') where CMTE_ID = 'C00694323'  limit 10;
┌───────────┬───────────┬─────────┬─────────────────┬────────────────────┬────────────────┬───────────┬──────────────────────┬───┬───────────┬───────────┬──────────────────────┬──────────┬─────────┬───────────┬─────────────────────┐
│  CMTE_ID  │ AMNDT_IND │ RPT_TP  │ TRANSACTION_PGI │     IMAGE_NUM      │ TRANSACTION_TP │ ENTITY_TP │         NAME         │ … │ OTHER_ID  │  CAND_ID  │       TRAN_ID        │ FILE_NUM │ MEMO_CD │ MEMO_TEXT │       SUB_ID        │
│  varchar  │  varchar  │ varchar │     varchar     │      varchar       │    varchar     │  varchar  │       varchar        │   │  varchar  │  varchar  │       varchar        │ varchar  │ varchar │  varchar  │       varchar       │
├───────────┼───────────┼─────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────────┼────────────────┼───────────┼──────────────────────┼───┼───────────┼───────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────┼─────────┼───────────┼─────────────────────┤
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604495445 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ TED CRUZ FOR SENATE  │ … │ C00492785 │ S2TX00312 │ A81D2C63FB6824E3C8DA │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858798205 │
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604495074 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ KEVIN MCCARTHY FOR…  │ … │ C00420935 │ H6CA22125 │ A805A9136A4784A3E93B │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858798612 │
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604493375 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ KEVIN MCCARTHY FOR…  │ … │ C00420935 │ H6CA22125 │ A79B6E1D4EAD548FABE2 │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858783491 │
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604494814 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ MICHELLE STEEL FOR…  │ … │ C00704981 │ H0CA48198 │ A7F5CC38D6A244D619F0 │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858799158 │
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604491592 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ KEVIN MCCARTHY FOR…  │ … │ C00420935 │ H6CA22125 │ A72939EDFA78842AC8AC │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858793320 │
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604494268 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ JIM JORDAN FOR CON…  │ … │ C00416594 │ H6OH04082 │ A7D2C568915F5430480D │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858783453 │
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604492989 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ NIKKI HALEY FOR PR…  │ … │ C00833392 │ P40010977 │ A782955CFFE3F45E686F │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858778130 │
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604494935 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ SHIRLEY FOR NEW JE…  │ … │ C00853200 │ H4NJ03171 │ A7FD001439635431999A │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858814377 │
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604496395 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ NORBER FOR CONGRES…  │ … │ C00846931 │ H4NY03200 │ A858155EC1D3E4D79A47 │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858804544 │
│ C00694323 │ N         │ YE      │ P2020           │ 202401319604493391 │ 24K            │ CCM       │ BO HINES FOR CONGR…  │ … │ C00766162 │ H2NC05157 │ A79C5C1A686BC467CB58 │ 1751463  │         │           │ 4022920241858785598 │
├───────────┴───────────┴─────────┴─────────────────┴────────────────────┴────────────────┴───────────┴──────────────────────┴───┴───────────┴───────────┴──────────────────────┴──────────┴─────────┴───────────┴─────────────────────┤
│ 10 rows                                                                                                                                                                                                        22 columns (15 shown) │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘