Center for Illinois Politics - Connecting People to Politics

Data

Here at the Center for Illinois Politics, our campaign finance information is updated daily and presented in an interactive way that makes it easy for you.

Our numbers are sourced from the publicly available filings that candidates and their committees provide to the Illinois State Board of Elections. It’s also been curated by our data advisor, Scott Kennedy of Illinois Election Data.

Data update frequency

  • Contributions of more than $1,000 are reported within 5 business days by political campaigns. We update this information every 24 hours.
  • Contributions of less than $1,000 are only required to be disclosed on a quarterly basis, so we add these every three months as soon as the State Board of Elections releases the data.
  • Expenditures reflect all purchases made by the campaign, as well as any contributions to other committees or refunds of contributions. These are published on a quarterly basis.

Quarterly information is updated on Jan. 15, Apr. 15, July 15 and Oct. 15. (Quarterly filings are due 15 days after the quarter ends. For example, information posted Jan. 15 is for the preceding three months, October through December.) We incorporate information from these quarterly filings as soon as they are posted.

Calculations we make

  • Spending Power reflects the total money at a candidate’s disposal over the course of their campaign, including the money they have already spent and their current estimated cash on hand.
  • Estimated cash on hand is calculated by adding candidates’ cash on hand reported at the end of the most recent quarter and all contributions (of more than $1,000) they have reported since then.
  • Spent this campaign is the total money removed from the candidates’ campaign accounts for any reason, including campaign expenditures, contributions to other committees, and contribution refunds.
Center for Illinois Politics - Connecting People to Politics