FEC MCP Server

FEC MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance research and transparency. This server provides tools to search candidates, retrieve financial reports, and analyze contributions and disbursements from official FEC data.

Features

• search_candidates: Search for federal candidates by name, filter by election year, office, state, or party
• get_committee_finances: Retrieve financial summaries including receipts, disbursements, cash on hand, and burn rate
• get_receipts: Get itemized contributions (Schedule A) with donor details
• get_disbursements: Get itemized expenditures (Schedule B) with recipient and purpose details
• Flagged-first notable analysis: Optional notable blocks for receipts/disbursements with reference-list + heuristic flag reasons
• get_independent_expenditures: Track Super PAC spending for or against candidates (Schedule E)
• get_committee_flags: Check for RFAIs, amendments, and compliance red flags
• search_donors: Search individual donors by name, employer, or occupation across all committees
• search_spending: Search campaign spending by description or recipient across all committees

All data comes directly from the official OpenFEC API.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or later
• An FEC API key (free from api.open.fec.gov)

Install from npm

npm install -g fec-mcp-server

Install from source

git clone <repository-url>
cd fecmcp
npm install
npm run build

Configuration

Set your FEC API key as an environment variable:

export FEC_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

Or create a .env file in your project root:

FEC_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

Usage with Claude Desktop

Add the server to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fec": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["fec-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "FEC_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or if installed globally:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fec": {
      "command": "fec-mcp-server",
      "env": {
        "FEC_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

search_candidates

Search FEC records for candidates by name.

Parameters:

• q (required): Candidate name to search for
• election_year (optional): Filter by election year (e.g., 2024)
• office (optional): Filter by office - H (House), S (Senate), P (President)
• state (optional): Filter by state (2-letter code)
• party (optional): Filter by party code (e.g., "DEM", "REP")

Example:

Search for candidates named "Smith" running for Senate in 2024

get_committee_finances

Retrieve financial summary for a campaign committee.

Parameters:

• committee_id (required): FEC committee ID (e.g., "C00401224")
• cycle (optional): Two-year election cycle (e.g., 2024)

Returns:

• Total receipts and disbursements
• Cash on hand
• Debts owed
• Burn rate (spending/income ratio)
• Contribution breakdown (individual, PAC, party)
• Small donor percentage

Example:

Get the financial summary for committee C00401224

get_receipts

Retrieve itemized contributions (Schedule A) received by a committee.

Parameters:

• committee_id (required): FEC committee ID
• min_amount (optional): Minimum contribution amount (default: $1,000)
• two_year_transaction_period (optional): Election cycle (e.g., 2024)
• cycle (optional): Alias for two_year_transaction_period; auto-aligns receipts with finance cycle usage
• contributor_type (optional): "individual" or "committee"
• include_notable (optional): Include flagged-first notable block (default: true)
• fuzzy_threshold (optional): Fuzzy matching threshold for reference-list flags (default: 90, range: 80-99)
• limit (optional): Number of results (default: 20, max: 100)
• sort_by (optional): "amount" or "date" (default: "amount")

Example:

Show the top 10 contributions over $5,000 to committee C00401224

get_disbursements

Retrieve itemized expenditures (Schedule B) made by a committee.

Parameters:

• committee_id (required): FEC committee ID
• min_amount (optional): Minimum disbursement amount (default: $1,000)
• two_year_transaction_period (optional): Election cycle
• cycle (optional): Alias for two_year_transaction_period; auto-aligns disbursements with finance cycle usage
• purpose (optional): Filter by purpose keyword (e.g., "MEDIA", "CONSULTING")
• include_notable (optional): Include flagged-first notable block (default: true)
• fuzzy_threshold (optional): Fuzzy matching threshold for reference-list flags (default: 90, range: 80-99)
• limit (optional): Number of result