# How Campaign Money Moves The four legally distinct pipes that carry a dollar from a donor to a federal candidate — and the walls between them. Each pipe has its own ceiling, its own disclosure rule, and its own answer to the one question that organizes all of American campaign finance: **may this money be spent in coordination with the candidate it helps?** The pipes are not ranked by size. They are ranked by how closely the spender may work with the campaign, because that is the only variable the law has ever tried to control. This map is a **time-slice as of September 12, 2026**, and the slice matters more than usual. On **June 30, 2026** the Supreme Court decided [[National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC]], struck down the limits on coordinated party expenditures, and thereby removed the single largest wall on this map — nine weeks before the midterm general election. Since **April 2025** the agency that administers everything still standing has had two commissioners of six and no quorum. Both facts are drawn. The upstream companion is [[How Federal Money Moves]], which traces public money rather than political money. The downstream companion is [[How a Midterm Election Is Certified]]. > [!note] How to read this chart > `──▶` main path · `└─▶` branch · `◇` decision point · `║` a legal wall between pipes · `★` a limit struck down or currently unenforced · `⚑` the door money actually goes through · `✕` a vacant seat. Dollar figures are the **2025–2026 cycle** limits published by the FEC in January 2025; "per election" means the primary and the general count separately, so the cycle figure is double. Unindexed limits are marked `[stat.]` — they are fixed in statute and have not risen since 1976 or 2002. Entities named inside the chart are institutions and instruments, not individuals. ``` HOW CAMPAIGN MONEY MOVES — four pipes from a donor to a federal candidate time-slice: September 12, 2026 · post-NRSC v. FEC · limits = 2025–2026 cycle ★ = struck down or unenforced ⚑ = the door money actually uses ║ = a legal wall ■ STAGE 0 — THE TWO QUESTIONS THAT SORT EVERY DOLLAR │ ├─◇ Q1 May it be spent WITH the candidate? ── This sets the ceiling. │ └─▶ yes (coordinated) ─▶ historically capped ─▶ ★ for parties, capped no longer │ └─▶ no (independent) ─▶ never capped since Buckley (1976) / SpeechNow (2010) │ └─◇ Q2 Must the original SOURCE be named? ── This sets the visibility. └─▶ yes ─▶ FEC reports, filed and public └─▶ no ─▶ IRS-side entity, no donor schedule ─▶ the money still arrives ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ◆ PIPE A — THE CANDIDATE'S OWN COMMITTEE [hard money · fully coordinated] │ ├─ individual ........ $3,500 per election ($7,000 per cycle) │ ├─ federal PAC ....... $5,000 per election [stat. — unchanged since 1976] │ ├─ party committee ... $5,000 per election (plus a separate indexed Senate limit) │ ├─ the candidate ..... unlimited from personal funds │ ├─ corporation / union ... PROHIBITED as a direct contribution (Tillman Act, 1907) │ ├─ foreign national ...... PROHIBITED, every pipe, no exception │ └─ disclosure ........ every dollar, itemized above $200, quarterly / pre-election │ │ ⚑ the joint fundraising committee: one $100k+ check, split at the back end into │ lawful slices for the candidate, the party, and the party's special accounts │ ◆ PIPE B — THE PARTY COMMITTEE [hard money · ★ NOW UNCAPPED] │ ├─ individual → main account ......... $44,300 per year │ ├─ individual → convention account ... $132,900 per year (RNC / DNC only) │ ├─ individual → building account ..... $132,900 per year │ ├─ individual → legal / recount ...... $132,900 per year │ ├─ individual → state party (federal) . $10,000 per year [stat.] │ │ ↳ one donor, one year, one national committee: $354,000 lawful │ ├─ party → candidate, direct ......... $5,000 per election (unchanged) │ └─ ★ party → COORDINATED EXPENDITURE for that candidate ...... UNLIMITED │ was: a population-and-office formula, low five figures to low seven │ now: struck down, NRSC v. FEC, June 30, 2026, overruling Colorado II (2001) │ effect: ads written with the campaign, on the campaign's message, no ceiling │ ◆ PIPE C — THE TRADITIONAL PAC [hard money · may coordinate] │ ├─ individual → PAC ........ $5,000 per year [stat. — unchanged since 1976] │ ├─ PAC → candidate ......... $5,000 per election [stat.] │ ├─ corporate treasury ...... PROHIBITED in; solicits its own class instead │ └─ disclosure .............. full, both ends │ ◆ PIPE D — THE SUPER PAC [independent-expenditure-only] │ ├─ any amount, any source (person, corporation, union, LLC, nonprofit) │ ├─ spends UNLIMITED sums for or against a named candidate │ ├─ ║ WALL: may not coordinate with that candidate ── the only wall of consequence left │ │ permitted anyway: a former campaign manager running it · public │ │ "redboxing" instructions on a campaign website · shared vendors · │ │ jointly attended fundraisers · the candidate soliciting up to $5,000 │ └─ discloses its donors — which may be an LLC formed eight weeks ago │ ◆ PIPE E — THE 501(c)(4) LAYER [feeds C and D · source hidden] │ ├─ unlimited in, no donor schedule ever filed with the FEC │ ├─ political activity must not be its "primary purpose" — an IRS test, not an FEC one │ ├─ ⚑ transfers to a super PAC ─▶ the super PAC discloses the (c)(4), not the donor │ └─ this is the whole mechanism behind the phrase "dark money" ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ■ THE WALLS STILL STANDING — and who is enforcing them │ ├─ 1 no coordination between a super PAC and a candidate ....... FEC ★ unenforced ├─ 2 earmarking / conduit rule (a pass-through counts as direct) FEC ★ unenforced ├─ 3 disclosure of contributions and expenditures ............... FEC (filings continue) ├─ 4 no foreign national money, direct or indirect .............. FEC + DOJ └─ 5 no straw-donor or reimbursed contributions ................. DOJ (criminal) note: walls 1 and 2 are the two the Supreme Court named in McCutcheon (2014) and again in NRSC (2026) as the adequate substitutes that made the struck limits unnecessary. They are administered by the body immediately below. ■ THE ENFORCER — FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 6 seats · 4 votes to act │ ├─ Chair ............... Shana Broussard ├─ Commissioner ........ Dara Lindenbaum ├─ Commissioner ........ ✕ VACANT ├─ Commissioner ........ ✕ VACANT ├─ Commissioner ........ ✕ VACANT ├─ Commissioner ........ ✕ VACANT │ nominated Feb 11, 2026: Ashley Stow · Andrew Woodson — not confirmed ├─ ★ NO QUORUM SINCE APRIL 2025 — most recent Notice of Lack of Quorum: Aug 25, 2026 └─ with no quorum it cannot: open or close an enforcement matter · authorize an investigation · approve a conciliation agreement · issue a binding advisory opinion · write a rule · or defend itself in court. Filings still come in. Nothing happens to them. ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ┌─ WHAT THE SHAPE SHOWS ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 1 The wall that fell was the one being enforced; the wall left standing is the one │ │ nobody is enforcing. Coordinated party limits were administered by filing. │ │ The super-PAC coordination ban requires an investigation and four votes. │ │ 2 The Court's own reasoning depends on the agency. McCutcheon and NRSC both hold │ │ the struck limits unnecessary BECAUSE earmarking and disclosure rules suffice. │ │ Both are enforced by a commission that has had no quorum for seventeen months. │ │ 3 Money is flowing back toward the party, not around it. From 2010 to 2026 the party │ │ was the weak pipe and the super PAC the strong one. Pipe B is now the highest- │ │ capacity coordinated channel in the system — and it names its donors. │ │ 4 A ceiling that is not indexed is a repeal on a delay. $5,000 in 1976 dollars is │ │ roughly $28,000 today; Pipes A and C still say $5,000. │ │ 5 Nothing on this map required a vote of Congress. Four Supreme Court decisions, │ │ one appellate ruling, one 2014 omnibus rider, and four unfilled seats. │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` ## Notes - **[[National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC]] (decided June 30, 2026)** is the reason this map looks different from any version of it drawn before July 2026. The Court held that FECA's coordinated party expenditure limits, 52 U.S.C. § 30116(d), violate the First Amendment, and overruled **[[FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee]]** (*Colorado II*, 2001). The plaintiffs were the NRSC, the NRCC, then-Senator JD Vance and then-Representative Steve Chabot; the *en banc* Sixth Circuit had upheld the limits in September 2024 on the ground that only the Supreme Court could overrule its own precedent. The reasoning rests on [[McCutcheon v. FEC]] (2014) and **[[FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate]]** (2022): the only interest that justifies a campaign-finance limit is preventing *quid pro quo* corruption, and the anti-circumvention worry that justified *Colorado II* is already answered by the earmarking and disclosure provisions. - **The FEC has had no quorum since April 2025.** Two of six seats are filled — Chair Shana Broussard and Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum — and FECA requires four affirmative votes for core functions. Two nominees, Ashley Stow and Andrew Woodson, were sent to the Senate on February 11, 2026 and have not been confirmed. The Commission filed a Notice of Lack of Quorum in the District of the District of Columbia as recently as August 25, 2026, which is how the status is confirmed current rather than inferred. - **Why the two facts belong on one map.** They are not independent. The Court's substitute for the limits it struck is a set of rules only the Commission can enforce. This is the same structural pattern as [[Inspector General Oversight Tree]] and [[The Pardon and Clemency Pipeline]]: the instrument survives on paper and the office that operates it is empty. - **The $354,000 figure** in Pipe B is arithmetic, not a citation: $44,300 plus three special accounts at $132,900. It is what one individual may lawfully give one national committee in one calendar year, and in a two-year cycle it doubles. The special accounts were created by a rider to the December 2014 omnibus, not by a standalone campaign-finance bill. - **Unindexed limits.** The $5,000 individual-to-PAC, PAC-to-candidate and party-to-candidate figures and the $10,000 state-party figure are fixed in statute with no inflation adjustment. The indexed figures rose in January 2025 for this cycle. The gap between them widens every year without anyone voting on it. - **Deliberately not drawn:** the total volume of money in the 2026 cycle. The trackers count independent expenditures, transfers and (c)(4) spending on different bases, and no figure is available that is both current and comparable. A single round number here would be worse than the omission. - **Left open:** whether *NRSC* survives contact with the remaining limits. The Covington analysis of the decision reads it as calling other restrictions into question; no court has yet applied it beyond coordinated party expenditures. The map draws what was decided, not what may follow. ## See also - [[Campaign Finance Hub]] — the topical hub this map sits under - [[How Federal Money Moves]] — the public-money companion pipeline - [[How a Midterm Election Is Certified]] — what happens after the money is spent - [[Foundations Hub]] — the full ASCII map series - [[Citizens United v. FEC]] · [[SpeechNow.org v. FEC]] · [[Buckley v. Valeo]] · [[McCutcheon v. FEC]] - [[Super PACs]] · [[Independent Expenditure]] · [[Coordinated Party Expenditure]] · [[Dark Money]] · [[501(c)(4)]] - [[Hard Money]] · [[Soft Money]] · [[Joint Fundraising Committee]] · [[Leadership PAC]] - [[Federal Election Commission]] · [[Federal Election Campaign Act]] · [[Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act]] · [[Money as Speech]] - [[Dark Money Timeline]] · [[2026 Midterms Hub]]