James E. Risch
Senator · R-ID
OverviewMoney & Influence
92% of Risch's money comes from outside ID.
The majority of funding comes from donors who cannot vote for this member.
$1.2M raised$1021 avg donation8% from ID2 former staff → lobbyists
Key Findings
92% of donations come from outside ID
A supermajority of James E. Risch's funding comes from donors who cannot vote for them.
2 former staff now work as lobbyists
Former employees have transitioned to the lobbying industry.
26% of PAC money comes from regulated industries
Some funding comes from industries within this member's committee jurisdiction.
74% of money comes from large donors (>$1,000)
A significant share of funding comes from major individual donors.
How Does Money Flow Through Congress?
An interactive guide to the influence pipeline
Show ↓
How Does Money Flow Through Congress?
An interactive guide to the influence pipeline
How It Works
The Influence Pipeline
How money flows to — and through — James E. Risch's office.
01
The Company
A corporation wants a law passed or blocked.
02
The PAC
Direct donations are illegal. So employees pool money into a Political Action Committee.
03
The Target
PACs fund members on committees that regulate their industry.
04
⚖️
The Committee
These committees write the laws that affect the donor's business.
07
🗳️
The Vote
Your representative votes — and the pattern is clear.
06
📋
The Lobbying
Those lobbyists push specific bills before their former colleagues.
05
🚪
The Revolving Door
Former staff become lobbyists for the same industries that fund their old boss.
The cycle repeats.
01
The Company
A corporation wants a law passed or blocked.
02
The PAC
Direct donations are illegal. So employees pool money into a Political Action Committee.
03
The Target
PACs fund members on committees that regulate their industry.
04
⚖️
The Committee
These committees write the laws that affect the donor's business.
05
🚪
The Revolving Door
Former staff become lobbyists for the same industries that fund their old boss.
06
📋
The Lobbying
Those lobbyists push specific bills before their former colleagues.
07
🗳️
The Vote
Your representative votes — and the pattern is clear.
The cycle repeats.
Follow the Money
Top individual donor: Fingeret, Jeremy from TX ($12K). Energy is the largest PAC sector at $265K from 144 PACs.
Industry PACs
$694KWhich sectors fund this member
Leadership PACs
$1.1MHow much power this member brokers
Save America Pac
Raised: $0Spent: $0
Pac For America
Raised: $72KSpent: $111K
Save America Pac Ii
Raised: $0Spent: $0
Save America Pac
Raised: $0Spent: $0
Pac For America 2
Raised: $21KSpent: $2K
Top Individual Donors
$1.7MNamed people writing checks
TX · 1x
Kayali, Zeid↗$12K
CA · Physician · 4xKteleh, Tarek↗$11K
IN · Rheumatology · 5xCT · The Invus Group Llc · 3x
Frank, Shane↗$10K
TX · Alliantgroup · 1xFrank, Shane↗$10K
TX · 1x
Risch
Energy and Natural Resources, Intelligence
Votes Cast by Policy Area
Economics and Public Finance
207
International Affairs
83
Armed Forces and National Security
68
Health
35
Transportation and Public Works
35
Taxation
29
The Revolving Door
Deep Dive
How we built this & what it doesn't prove
- • Donor data from FEC filings (9.47M individual contributions)
- • Voting records from Congress.gov roll call data
- • Lobbying data from Senate LDA filings
- • Staff employment from House disbursement records
Correlation between donations and votes does not prove causation. Members may vote in alignment with donors because they share genuine policy beliefs, not because of financial influence. We present the connections — you decide what they mean.