Ben Cline

Where the money came from

Everything Cline’s campaigns have reported raising, split by who gave it.

Money bundled through organizations

Not every “individual” donation arrives on its own. An organization can collect checks from its members, already earmarked for Cline, and deliver them in a bundle. The law counts that as individual money, but the organization still chose where it went.

• AIPACThe American Israel Public Affairs Committee's political arm. It backs candidates of both parties it considers strong supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship.$30,000
• Senate Conservatives FundA PAC founded by former senator Jim DeMint that bundles donations for conservative Senate candidates, often in Republican primaries.$5,400

We can only count the organizations we have measured, so the real figure could be higher than this, never lower. Bundling is legal and widely used, and appearing here is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Who gave the most

Committee contributions from the 2024 and 2026 election periods, grouped by how the FEC classifies each giver. This covers a slice of the career total, and giving to a campaign is legal and ordinary.

• Corporation41%$463,000
• Trade association28%$312,000
• Labor union1%$15,000
• Membership organization9%$101,000
• Co-operative2%$23,000
• Corporation without capital stock<1%$3,500
• Unclassified18%$199,000

Which industries

• Technology & telecoms21% · $40,000
• Defense & aerospace20% · $38,000
• Retail & consumer20% · $38,000
• Energy & utilities17% · $32,000
• Transport11% · $20,000
• Agriculture & food11% · $20,000

The FEC records that a committee is a corporation; it does not record its industry. Those labels are ours, kept in a published list anyone can check. Where we have not labeled a giver we say “Other” rather than guessing.

Largest committee givers

1. 1Buckeye Victory FundOther · Unclassified$21,000
2. 2National Automobile Dealers AssociationTransport · Trade associationThe trade association for car and truck dealerships.$20,000
3. 3National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc.Retail & consumer · Trade association$20,000
4. 4Charter Communications Inc.Technology & telecoms · CorporationThe cable and internet company's PAC, funded by employee contributions.$20,000
5. 5Cox Enterprises PAC (Coxpac) Inc.Technology & telecoms · Corporation$20,000

“Unclassified” means the FEC records no organization type for that committee, which usually means a leadership PAC. We show it as unclassified rather than guessing which industry it belongs to.

Their money and their votes, side by side

For each industry that gave to Cline: the money, then the bills they voted on in that industry’s area of law. The Library of Congress assigns each bill’s subject, not us, so nothing here is picked to make a point.

This is not evidence that money bought a vote. People often donate to politicians who already agree with them. We show what was given and how Cline voted; the judgment is yours.

We do not score these or say which way a vote favored an industry, because that would be our opinion dressed up as a finding. Each bill links to the chamber’s own roll-call record. Industries where fewer than three bills came to a vote are left out, because a handful of votes cannot show a pattern.

Money spent about this member

Outside groups, usually super PACs, may spend without limit on ads for or against a candidate, as long as they do not coordinate with the campaign. Cline has no legal control over any of it.

This is not a donation. Nobody gave this money to Cline. It was spent on advertising about Cline, and money spent against a candidate is plainly not funding them. So it never gets added to the figures above.

Election by election

The career figures above are the sum of these elections. Each row links to the Commission’s page for that election, where the numbers match line for line.

Raised is everything the campaign took in for that election. From PACs is the slice of it given by political action committees. Outside spending is what other groups spent on ads about the race, for and against—it is not part of “Raised”. An election marked in progress is still raising money, so its figures are not final.