--- aliases: - FEC - U.S. Federal Election Commission category: U.S. Government created: 2026-09-24 location: Washington, D.C. relations: - end: 1986-05-15 fn: 4 role: civil enforcement suit, FEC v. National Congressional Club; consent order and 10,000 dollar penalty start: 1985-02-07 type: investigated with: '[[National Congressional Club]]' - end: 1986-05-15 fn: 4 role: defendant as treasurer of the National Congressional Club; consent order start: 1985-02-07 type: investigated with: '[[Carter Wrenn]]' - end: 1986-05-15 fn: 4 role: defendant; consent order start: 1985-02-07 type: investigated with: '[[Jefferson Marketing]]' - end: 1986-05-15 fn: 4 role: consent order required his resignation as a director of the Educational Support Foundation start: 1985-02-07 type: investigated with: '[[Thomas F. Ellis]]' start: 1975 summary: Six-member independent federal commission created by the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act to administer and enforce federal campaign finance law; it opened in 1975. tags: - Organization - USGovernment - CampaignFinance - Elections - RegulatoryAgency updated: 2026-09-24 --- The Federal Election Commission is the independent agency that administers and enforces federal campaign finance law in the [United States](/places/united-states/). It was established by "section 309 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (52 U.S.C. 30106)," through amendments enacted in 1974 after "reports of serious financial abuses in the 1972 presidential campaign." "The FEC opened its doors in 1975."[^1] ### Composition and voting rules 52 U.S.C. § 30106 provides: "There is established a commission to be known as the Federal Election Commission." The commission is composed "of the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives or their designees, ex officio," who do not vote, "and 6 members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." "No more than 3 members of the Commission appointed under this paragraph may be affiliated with the same political party," and "Members of the Commission shall serve for a single term of 6 years." For enforcement actions, rulemaking, advisory opinions and the other enumerated matters, "the affirmative vote of 4 members of the Commission shall be required in order for the Commission to take any action." The commissioners appoint three statutory officers: a staff director, a general counsel and an inspector general.[^2] On April 30, 2025, CNN reported that the departure of Commissioner Allen Dickerson at the end of his term left the commission with three of six seats filled, below the four votes required to act, and described it as "the fourth time in the FEC's history" the agency had lost its quorum and "the third loss of a quorum under a Trump presidency." Commissioner Sean Cooksey had resigned on January 20, 2025, to become counsel to Vice President [JD Vance](/people/jd-vance/). Commissioner Ellen Weintraub stated on February 6, 2025, that President [Donald Trump](/people/donald-trump/) had sent her a letter on January 31 "purporting to remove me," and disputed its legality.[^3] ### Enforcement On February 7, 1985, the commission sued the National Congressional Club, its treasurer R. E. Carter Wrenn and Jefferson Marketing, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The commission alleged that "Wrenn, [Ellis](/people/thomas-f-ellis/) and other NCC officials exercised control of Jefferson Marketing," with Wrenn exercising "domination and control over the day-to-day operations of Jefferson Marketing," so that the club and the company operated as a single entity for reporting purposes. Under a consent order of May 15, 1986, the club and Wrenn were found to have violated the reporting provisions (section 434) by failing to disclose Jefferson Marketing's financial activity; the claim that the company had underpriced its services to candidates (section 441b) was not contested. The order imposed a "$10,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury," required Ellis and Wrenn to resign as directors of the Educational Support Foundation, Jefferson Marketing's shareholder, and required the club to amend its reports to disclose Jefferson Marketing's financial activity "from December 1978 to the present."[^4] In June 2022 the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint alleging that the super PAC Protect Ohio Values had illegally coordinated with the Senate campaign of JD Vance. The commission dismissed the complaint in 2024.[^5] The *Arizona Mirror* reported that the commission had raised questions about how the Saving Arizona PAC, which backed [Blake Masters](/people/blake-masters/), was disclosing its spending.[^6] ### Litigation In *FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate*, decided May 16, 2022, "the United States Supreme Court affirmed the District Court's judgment," holding that "Section 304 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act... is unconstitutional." The suit concerned [Ted Cruz](/people/ted-cruz/)'s 2018 Senate campaign.[^7] ### Disclosure records The commission maintains a public database of committee registrations and of itemized receipts and disbursements. [Real Justice PAC](/organizations/real-justice-pac/) registered on February 7, 2017, as committee C00632554, a hybrid PAC with a non-contribution account.[^8] Its 2019 year-end report records a 750,000 dollar receipt from the [Open Philanthropy Action Fund](/organizations/open-philanthropy-action-fund/), the only itemized receipt from that fund in the commission's records.[^9] The super PAC [Leading the Future](/organizations/leading-the-future/) registered on August 15, 2025, as C00916114,[^10] and the political action committee of [Americans for Responsible Innovation](/organizations/americans-for-responsible-innovation/) registered on December 11, 2024, as C00893883.[^11] The commission's records show that Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign paid Cambridge Analytica more than 5.8 million dollars during that cycle.[^12] [^1]: Federal Election Commission, "Mission and History." https://www.fec.gov/about/mission-and-history/ [^2]: 52 U.S.C. § 30106, "Federal Election Commission." Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title52-section30106&num=0&edition=prelim [^3]: CNN, report on the Federal Election Commission's loss of quorum, April 30, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/politics/federal-election-commissions-resignations-quorum [^4]: Federal Election Commission, "FEC v. National Congressional Club," court case summary, citing the FEC *Record,* July 1986. https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/fec-v-national-congressional-club [^5]: Campaign Legal Center. FEC complaint against JD Vance for Senate and Protect Ohio Values PAC, June 2022. https://campaignlegal.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/Vance%2520POV%2520Complaint%2520%2528Final%2529.pdf ; "FEC Lets Peter Thiel-Funded Super PAC Off the Hook." *Business Insider,* May 2024. https://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-super-pac-jd-vance-ohio-fec-ruling-2024-5 [^6]: "The FEC has questions about how a PAC backing Blake Masters is disclosing its spending." *Arizona Mirror.* https://azmirror.com/briefs/the-fec-has-questions-about-how-a-pac-backing-blake-masters-is-disclosing-its-spending/ [^7]: Federal Election Commission, "Ted Cruz for Senate, et al. v. FEC," court case summary. https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/ted-cruz-for-senate-et-al-v-fec [^8]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00632554, "Real Justice PAC," Form 1 statement of organization first filed February 7, 2017, and committee record, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00632554/ [^9]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipt from "Open Philanthropy Action Fund," 750,000 dollars, October 29, 2019, reported by Real Justice PAC (C00632554) on its 2019 year-end Form 3X, filed July 7, 2020, image 202007029244274196, retrieved September 23, 2026. http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202007029244274196 [^10]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00916114, "Leading the Future," statement of organization and itemized receipts (Schedule A), retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00916114/ [^11]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00893883, "Americans for Responsible Innovation Ltd. Political Action Committee," registration and financial totals through the report of July 15, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00893883/ [^12]: "Before Trump, Cambridge Analytica was on team Cruz." *OpenSecrets,* March 2018. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/03/before-trump-cambridge-analytica-was-on-team-cruz