Does OpenSecrets bulk data capture candidate self-financing?

[Richard Robinson]

Hi all,

I'm using the OpenSecrets bulk data tables for a dissertation on congressional campaign finance covering the 2012–2022 cycles. I've been through the Cands, Indivs, and PACs table definitions in the OpenData User's Guide and can't find a field that captures money a candidate contributes or loans to their own campaign.

I've found this in the FEC's own candidate_summary_{year}.csv bulk files (Cand_Contribution, Cand_Loan, Cand_Loan_Repayment fields), but since I'm already working primarily with OpenSecrets' cleaned/coded tables for everything else, I wanted to check:

• Whether OpenSecrets captures self-financing anywhere in the bulk data? (perhaps under a specific RealCode, RecipCode, or Type value in one of the existing tables)
• If not, is self-financing something OpenSecrets displays on candidate profile pages (e.g. via the API) but doesn't include in the bulk download tables?
• Is there a recommended way to merge FEC's candidate summary self-financing data with OpenSecrets' CID system, beyond joining on FECCandID?

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Richard