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Editor's note: This article is the second in a series. The first installment, about donations to political candidates' campaigns, is available here.

For some political candidates, donations of $1,000 or even $3,000 are not enough.

So they turn to political committees.

State law limits how much money a donor can contribute to a candidate's campaign during a given election. Typically, the limit is $1,000 for local candidates and $3,000 for statewide candidates.

Take for example someone who is running for county commissioner in 2026. A supporter can donate no more than $1,000 to that candidate's campaign during the primary election and another $1,000 during the general election. That's it.

If the candidate has a political committee, however, a supporter can donate endless cash. Generally, there is no limit on how much money a donor can contribute to a political committee.

So if you want to know who is backing a candidate, you can't just look at donations to their campaign. You must also follow the money going to their committee.

The same goes for sitting elected officials: If you want to know who might be trying to sway them, you must follow the money to their campaign and their committee.

State law requires political committees to file regular reports of all the donations they receive and all the spending they do. Those reports are public information, but they can be hard to find because there is no central repository for them.

This article will break down how to find finance data for political committees that fund a particular candidate.

What is a political committee?

The statutory definition of a political committee is a mouthful. But it includes a group of two or more people or another type of entity, such as a corporation or organization, that does any of the following:

• Accepts more than $500 per year for the purpose of donating to a candidate, another political committee, an affiliated party committee or a political party
• Accepts or spends more than $500 per year for the purpose of advocating for or against a candidate or an issue
• Contributes more than $500 per year to a common fund from which donations are made to a candidate, another political committee, an affiliated party committee or a political party

Again, this article will focus on political committees that accept donations for a particular candidate.

How to tell if a candidate has a committee

Not all candidates have political committees. So before you can follow the money going into a candidate's political committee, you must confirm they actually have one and figure out its name.

Here's where to check:

• The Florida Division of Elections' committee database: Political committees that fund candidates for statewide or multi-county offices are registered with the state and can be found in this database. You should also check this database for committees that fund candidates for county, municipal (city, town or village) or other local offices.
• The applicable county's supervisor of elections' office: If you can't find a county or non-municipal local candidate's committee in the state database, it might be registered here.
• The applicable municipality's clerk's office: If you can't find a municipal candidate's committee in the state database, it might be registered here.

Searching for political committees in the state database

There are multiple ways that a candidate can be connected to their committee, including:

• Committee name: Often but not always, part or all of the candidate's name is in the committee name. For example, my current county commissioner's name is Sara Baxter and her committee's name is Friends of Sara Baxter.
• Committee officer: Often but not always, a candidate is the chairperson for their committee.

This means you must search the state committee database multiple ways. At the least, I recommend using both of these search options:

• "Search Committees by Name": Do two separate searches here, one for the last name only and another for the first name only. Make sure to select "Containing" (not "Starting With") from the "Search Type" drop-down menu before hitting the search button.
• "Search Committees by Officer": Do at least a chairperson search here.

Searching for political committees registered at the local level

Local registries of political committees can vary widely from one locality to the next. They are often hard to find online too. So if you can't find a candidate's committee via the state database, I strongly advise calling and asking the office of the applicable county's supervisor of elections or the applicable municipality's clerk how to find out if the candidate has a committee registered locally.

Where are political committee finance reports filed?

Once you know the name of a candidate's political committee, you must determine the entity with which the committee files its finance reports.

This varies depending on the office the candidate is seeking:

• For political committees that fund candidates for statewide or multi-county offices, it's the Florida Division of Elections.
• For political committees that fund candidates for county or non-municipal local offices, it could be the Florida Division of Elections or the applicable county's supervisor of elections' office. (My advice is to start by searching the state's campaign finance database as detailed below. If you don't find the committee's finance data there, then follow the instructions in the "Local offices" section below.)
• For political committees that fund candidates for municipal (city, town or village) offices, it could be the Florida Division of Elections or the applicable municipality's clerk's office. (My advice is to start by searching the state's campaign finance database as detailed below. If you don't find the committee's finance data there, then follow the instructions in the "Local offices" section below.)

Statewide and multi-county offices

The Florida Division of Elections requires all political committees to file their finance reports electronically. It also posts that data electronically. So finding it is technically as simple as searching the division's campaign finance database.

If you're interested in donations, start by clicking on "Contribution Records." (You can ignore the intimidatingly long instructions.)

On the next page, do the following:

1. Select an election (or select "All") from the "Election Year" drop-down menu.
2. Enter the political committee's name in the "Committee Search" section.
3. Click the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page.

You do not have to select or enter anything else — even though the database says you do. In fact, sometimes providing fewer criteria is better, particularly when you are getting used to navigating this database.

That said, I find the "Sort Contributions By" drop-down menu handy. It determines how results are sorted after you hit the "Submit" button — useful if you want to see donations listed by date or amount, for example.

There's also an option under "Retrieval Format" to download your search results as a tab-delimited text file, which you can then convert to a spreadsheet or import to a database.

Local offices

The collection of campaign finance data can vary from one locality to the next.

You might be able to find a political committee's finance data by poking around the website of the applicable county supervisor of elections or municipal clerk. But it would probably be faster to simply call their office and ask how to find finance data on political committees that are registered locally. Here's a list of every supervisor of elections in Florida, along with their website and contact information.

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