Top fundraisers

You’re looking at the Top fundraiserstab. It uses a different kind of figure than the wealth tabs next to it. This one comes from campaign money reported to the Federal Election Commission for the most recent election cycle, not from personal financial disclosures. It ranks people by total campaign receipts, and that figure says more about the size of a fundraising operation, and perhaps how well known someone is, than it says about a person’s own finances.

Raising a lot of money doesn’t mean a campaign kept a lot of it. FEC reports also track spending and cash on hand, figures this leaderboard doesn’t sort by. So a large total here can sit right next to a campaign that already spent most of it. Totals update as new FEC reports arrive, usually every quarter. A name near the top in January can drop several spots by the next deadline without the campaign doing anything differently.

Switch to any of the wealth tabs to see net worth instead. That comes from personal disclosure forms, not campaign filings, and it’s a separate question with its own paper trail. Raising money is simply what campaigns do. A high total here doesn’t mean anything was bought, and a low one doesn’t mean a campaign is struggling. It may just mean this office or cycle hasn’t drawn big money yet.