Archived copy: Rep. Bill Foster

During NewsMatch 2025, your donation is doubled to help keep our data and reporting available to the public.

Give today and power the facts that strengthen democracy.

• Politicians
• Elections
• Lobbying & Groups
• Learn
• About

Donate to OpenSecrets to help strengthen our democracy

Politicians

Elections

Lobbying & Groups

Learn

About

OpenSecrets

Search OpenSecrets.org

Search

Popular Donor Searches

Popular Tools

Nonpartisan, independent, nonprofit

• Campaign Committee Fundraising
• Top Contributors
• Top Industries
• Total Raised vs. Average Raised
• Source of Funds

Campaign Committee Fundraising, 2023 - 2024

Total Raised vs. Average Raised

Source of Funds (Campaign Committee), 2023 - 2024

*Includes contributions from other candidate committees.

NOTE: All the numbers on this page are for the 2023 - 2024 election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data released electronically on 09/16/25 for Fundraising totals, Source of Funds and Total Raised vs Average, and on 02/06/25 for Top Contributors and Industries. ("Help! The numbers don't add up...")

WHY DON'T THE NUMBERS ADD UP?

Sometimes it's hard to make apple-to-apple comparisons across some of the pages in a candidate's profile. Here's why:

Summary numbers for federal officeholders - specifically "Total Raised and Spent" and "PAC/Individual Split" - are based on summary reports filed by the candidates with the Federal Election Commission. All other numbers in these profiles for state and federal officeholders are derived from contribution records disclosed in campaign finance reports from the FEC or state campaign finance agencies that reach applicable itemization thresholds.

There is also a time lag in posting the information. While summary numbers are reported almost immediately by the FEC — and listed quickly on OpenSecrets — processing and analyzing the detailed records takes much longer. For that reason, summary numbers are usually higher (and more current) than the numbers based on detailed records. Data for state officeholders may be subject to longer time lags, as OpenSecrets aggregates this information from many sources and formats.

HOW CURRENT ARE THESE FIGURES?

The figures in federal profiles are taken from databases uploaded by the FEC on the first day of every month. Those databases are only as current as the FEC has been able to compile by that date (see the note above about lag times for data entry).

OpenSecrets updates federal figures for "Total Raised and Spent" and for "PAC/Individual Split" a few days after the first of the month. The remaining figures - based on detailed contribution data - are updated by OpenSecrets after the 20th of every month. This gives us time to analyze the contributions and categorize them by industry and interest group.

The lag times vary for state officeholder data. OpenSecrets aggregates state data from many sources and formats.

The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Why (and How) We Use Donors' Employer/Occupation Information

Corporations themselves cannot donate to candidates at the federal level but federal candidates can get contributions from corporate PACs, employees and owners as well as their immediate families. At the state level, corporations and unions can give directly to campaigns in many jurisdictions.

Under federal law, all contributions over $200 must be itemized and the donor's occupation and employer must be requested and disclosed, if provided. State requirements related to itemization thresholds and employment disclosures vary.

Where available, OpenSecrets uses that employer/occupation information to identify the donor's economic interest. We do this in two ways:

• First, we apply a code to the contribution, identifying the industry. Totals for industries (and larger economic sectors) can be seen in each candidate and race profile, and in the Industry Profile section of the OpenSecrets website.
• Second, we standardize the name of the donor's employer. If enough contributions came in from people connected with that same employer, the organization's name winds up on the Top Contributors list.

It is impossible to know either the economic interest that made each individual contribution possible or the motivation for each individual giver. However, the patterns of contributions provide critical information for voters, researchers and others. That is why Congress and many states have mandated that candidates, political parties and political committees request employer information from contributors and publicly report it when the contributor provides it.

In some cases, a cluster of contributions from people associated with the same organization may indicate a concerted effort by that organization to "bundle" contributions to the candidate. In other cases, the reason for the contributions may be completely unrelated to the organization.

Showing these clusters of contributions from people associated with particular organizations provides a valuable — and unique — way of understanding where candidates are getting their financial support. Knowing those groups is also useful after the election, as issues come before Congress, presidential administrations and state governments that may affect those organizations or their industries.

METHODOLOGY

Corporations themselves cannot donate to candidates at the federal level but federal candidates can get contributions from corporate PACs, employees and owners as well as their immediate families. At the state level, corporations and unions can give directly to campaigns in many jurisdictions.

Donors who give more than $200 to any federal candidate, PAC or party committee must list their occupation and employer. State requirements related to itemization thresholds and employment disclosures vary. Based on the available information, the donor is given an economic code. These totals are conservative, as not all of the individual contributions have yet been classified by OpenSecrets.

In cases where two or more people from the same family contributed, the income-earner's occupation/employer is assigned to all non-wage earning family members. If, for instance, Henry Jones lists his employer as First National Bank, his wife Matilda lists "Homemaker" and 12-year old Tammy shows up as "Student," OpenSecrets would identify all their contributions as being related to the "First National Bank" since that's the source of the family's income.

Although individual contributions are generally categorized based on the donor's occupation/employer, in some cases individuals may be classified instead as ideological donors. A contribution to a candidate may be given an ideological code, rather than an economic code, if the contributor gives to an ideological political action committee AND the candidate has received money from PACs representing that same ideological interest.

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit OpenSecrets. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact OpenSecrets: [email protected]

Join OS Pro today for $3.99/mo*

*15% discount for yearly membership, billed at $40/yr