Money that argues.
$27.4M from 86 PACs organized around a belief rather than an industry. It is 4% of all outside money going to Congress, a fraction of $406.9M from business sectors. While it is fewer dollars, it may be more revealing about how representatives will act: what motivates them, and how they will exercise power once they have it.
Two camps, not a spectrum
Every PAC here is sorted by how it divides its money between the parties. If ideological giving were a spectrum, these bands would fill in evenly. Instead the middle is nearly empty: 81 of 86 PACs send almost everything to one side. The 4 genuinely even-handed PACs are the exception that proves it: between them they move $9.0M, almost all of it AIPAC.
- Almost entirely to Democrats$9.5M36 PACs
- Mostly to Democrats$262k1 PAC
- Roughly even$9.0M4 PACs
- Mostly to Republicansn/a0 PACs
- Almost entirely to Republicans$8.6M45 PACs
Where the two sides face off
Opposed causes are kept apart rather than netted against each other, because a single "guns" or "abortion" figure would describe neither side. Set side by side, the imbalance is the point.
Guns
12.4× toward Gun rightsGun rights$2.7M6 PACsGun control$217k4 PACsAbortion
2.7× toward Abortion rightsAnti-abortion$377k4 PACsAbortion rights$1.0M4 PACsIsrael
6.1× toward Pro-IsraelPro-Israel$8.6M2 PACsIsrael–Palestine, dovish$1.4M1 PAC
Every cause
Bar length is money; the marker shows which party it goes to. Causes are assigned by matching the PAC's name, the same approach and the same limitations as the sector classifier.
- Pro-Israel$8.6M38% D2 PACs
- Gun rights$2.7M1% D6 PACs
- Democracy & turnout$2.6M98% D4 PACs
- Conservative movement$2.1M1% D25 PACs
- Veterans & service$2.0M19% D4 PACs
- Israel–Palestine, dovish$1.4M99% D1 PAC
- Environment & climate$1.4M93% D10 PACs
- Political figures' PACs$1.3M0% D2 PACs
- Progressive movement$1.3M100% D7 PACs
- LGBTQ rights$1.3M100% D5 PACs
- Abortion rights$1.0M99% D4 PACs
- Fiscal conservative$940k0% D2 PACs
- Anti-abortion$377k0% D4 PACs
- Gun control$217k96% D4 PACs
- Other single-issue$207k89% D4 PACs
- Identity & representation$76k100% D2 PACs
The largest ideological PACs
| PAC | Cause | Total | Members | To Democrats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE | Pro-Israel | $7.9M | 363 | 38% |
| JSTREETPAC | Israel–Palestine, dovish | $1.4M | 147 | 99% |
| NATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS FOUNDATION, INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (NSSF PAC) | Gun rights | $1.2M | 237 | 0% |
| HUCK PAC FOR AMERICA | Political figures' PACs | $1.1M | 207 | 0% |
| DEFEND THE VOTE | Democracy & turnout | $1.1M | 135 | 100% |
| SEAL PAC SUPPORTING ELECTING AMERICAN LEADERS PAC | Veterans & service | $1.0M | 148 | 0% |
| ELECT DEMOCRATIC WOMEN | Progressive movement | $931k | 95 | 100% |
| NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA POLITICAL VICTORY FUND | Gun rights | $859k | 219 | 0% |
| END CITIZENS UNITED | Democracy & turnout | $855k | 115 | 98% |
| REPUBLICAN MAINSTREET PARTNERSHIP PAC | Conservative movement | $789k | 93 | 0% |
| HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN PAC | LGBTQ rights | $763k | 174 | 100% |
| NORPAC | Pro-Israel | $734k | 52 | 42% |
| LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS ACTION FUND | Environment & climate | $695k | 186 | 99% |
| REPUBLICAN GOVERNANCE GROUP/TUESDAY GROUP PAC | Conservative movement | $695k | 51 | 0% |
| PROGRESSIVE TURNOUT PROJECT | Democracy & turnout | $643k | 69 | 100% |
| CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC | Fiscal conservative | $595k | 33 | 0% |
| SAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL PAC (SCI-PAC) | Gun rights | $566k | 101 | 2% |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND INC PAC, DBA PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERAL PAC | Abortion rights | $457k | 53 | 100% |
| EQUALITY PAC | LGBTQ rights | $407k | 51 | 100% |
| WITH HONOR PAC | Veterans & service | $401k | 40 | 48% |
Who receives the most
Who depends on it most
Ideological money as a share of everything that member takes from outside interests.
What this counts, and what it cannot settle
Ideological money is everything classified as organized around a belief rather than an industry.
Some of these are a judgment call. Is the PAC associated with Mike Huckabee a party PAC or an ideological one now that he's not in office? Huck PAC is a leadership PAC in form, and this site excludes leadership money as the political system funding itself. But that exclusion is about Congress funding itself, and Huckabee holds no seat: his committee raises from donors and sends $1.15M to 207 sitting members, which is an outside actor funding Congress rather than Congress funding Congress. It is counted here for that reason.
Causes are assigned by matching PAC names, which carries the same weakness as the sector classifier: it reads labels, not behavior. A PAC with an uninformative name lands in "Other single-issue" rather than its real cause, and the smaller causes here rest on a handful of committees each, so treat individual cause totals as approximate.
The head-to-head figures say which side raises and gives more through PACs. They do not say which side wins, or even which is better resourced overall. The gun-control side in particular does far more of its spending through independent expenditures and advocacy than through direct contributions to candidates, and this site counts only direct contributions. Full methodology.