Understanding political committees and campaign finance laws is crucial for informed voting. Learn about their roles, regulations, and how to stay informed.
If you’ve ever received a political mailer, seen a campaign ad, or noticed a disclaimer that says “Paid for by…,” you’ve encountered a political committee.
Understanding what political committees are—and how they operate—is one of the most practical tools voters have for navigating modern elections. This article explains political committees in clear, straightforward terms so you can better understand:
This is an evergreen resource and will be linked throughout our candidate overview articles to help readers interpret campaign messaging.
Political committees are legally registered groups that raise and spend money related to elections. They exist to ensure that political activity involving money is organized, tracked, and publicly reported.
In Michigan, most political spending does not happen directly between individuals and candidates. Instead, it flows through committees that must comply with campaign finance laws and disclose their financial activity.
Committees are formed for many reasons, including to:
Some committees focus on a single race. Others operate across many elections and offices over time.
Political committees may:
These activities are how committees try to influence elections.
Political committees may not:
Committees operate under transparency and compliance rules designed to make political spending visible to the public.
No.
Candidates are individuals seeking public office. Committees are financial entities that support, oppose, or engage in election-related activity.
A candidate may have an official campaign committee. Many other committees are independent and may support multiple candidates—or none at all.
Political campaigns in the U.S. are governed by campaign finance laws intended to limit corruption, require transparency, and inform the public about who is funding political activity.
For many years, there were stricter limits on how much corporations, unions, and organizations could spend to influence elections. That changed significantly in 2010.
In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
The Court ruled that spending money to communicate political ideas is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment.
Critics argue that unlimited independent spending amplifies some voices more than others. Supporters argue that limiting political speech is more dangerous than unequal influence.
When people say “dark money,” they usually mean political spending where voters can see that money was spent, but cannot easily see who originally funded it.
This is not necessarily illegal money. “Dark money” typically refers to spending routed through certain nonprofit organizations that are allowed to participate in some political activity without publicly listing all of their donors.
Many political committees (including many PACs) must disclose donors above certain thresholds. But some nonprofits are not required to list donors publicly in the same way, even if they spend money influencing public debate during an election cycle.
Following the money doesn’t tell you what to think, but it can give you essential context for evaluating political messages.
Following the money helps voters understand who is shaping political messages and why. It doesn’t guarantee clarity, but it does provide context.
If you want to better understand who is funding political messaging, campaign finance databases are the best place to start. These databases are public, free to access, and maintained by state and federal election agencies.
For presidential, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House races, campaign finance information is available through the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
You can search for:
The FEC database allows you to look up who raised money, who spent money, and where that money went in federal elections.
For Michigan statewide, legislative, and local races, campaign finance information is published by the Michigan Bureau of Elections.
The state’s campaign finance portal is available at:
https://mi-boe.entellitrak.com/
This database includes:
All of this information is publicly available and searchable.
The committee information included on our candidate pages comes from publicly available data published by the Michigan Bureau of Elections.
To generate the list of committees related to a specific race, we:
This search returns political committees that have registered campaign activity connected to that office. These results may include candidate committees, independent committees, and political action committees.
Michigan Women is adding political committee (PAC) information to our candidate overview articles to help readers better understand the broader funding environment around each race.
This information is provided for civic education purposes only. Listing a committee does not imply support, opposition, or endorsement of any candidate.
Political messaging does not always come directly from candidates. Ads, mailers, and digital content are often paid for by committees.
By paying attention to:
Voters can better understand the context around campaign messaging and reduce the risk of being misled by oversimplified or anonymous political content.
Following the money doesn’t tell you what to think—but it does give you more information to think with.