Federal Candidate Registry — FEC Candidate Master File
1,290 people are running for president, at least according to the federal candidate registry
The FEC Candidate Master File snapshot dated 2026-06-22 contains 8,079 federal candidate records. House candidates account for 5,626 records (69.6%), presidential candidates for 1,290 (16%), and Senate candidates for 1,163 (14.4%). Democrats and Republicans are nearly tied in the registry — 3,238 to 3,218, a gap of 20 records — while 1,623 records (20.1%) sit outside those two labels. Challengers outnumber incumbents 6.7to 1. These are administrative counts from a public registry, not findings about any individual.
Key findings
presidential candidate records appear in the FEC Candidate Master File snapshot dated 2026-06-22. That is 16% of the 8,079-record registry.
of the registry is House candidates: 5,626 records, versus 1,163 Senate records and 1,290 presidential records.
records separate the two major parties: 3,238 Democratic records and 3,218 Republican records in the snapshot.
candidate records are registered under neither major party (20.1%), including 617 Independent and 144 Libertarian records plus smaller party labels.
is the challenger-to-incumbent ratio: 4,932 challenger records against 736 incumbent records.
At a glance
By office
The Candidate Master File covers federal offices. House races dominate the registry because every state is split into congressional districts and every seat is up every cycle. The presidential line is unusually large because filing as a federal candidate is administratively broad: it is not the same thing as ballot access, a viable campaign, or public support.
| Office | Candidate records | Share of registry |
|---|---|---|
| House | 5,626 | 69.6% |
| President | 1,290 | 16% |
| Senate | 1,163 | 14.4% |
By party affiliation
The two major parties are almost exactly even in the file: Democratic records exceed Republican records by only 20. One in five records sits outside those two labels, led by Independent and Libertarian registrations plus a long tail of smaller party labels as published by the FEC.
| Party grouping | Candidate records | Share of registry |
|---|---|---|
| Democrat | 3,238 | 40.1% |
| Republican | 3,218 | 39.8% |
| Independent | 617 | 7.6% |
| Libertarian | 144 | 1.8% |
| Other minor labels | 862 | 10.7% |
By incumbency status
Most records are challengers. The FEC field also distinguishes open-seat candidates and incumbents; a smaller slice is blank in the source and remains blank here. We do not infer or repair missing statuses.
| Incumbency status | Candidate records | Share of registry |
|---|---|---|
| Challenger | 4,932 | 61% |
| Open-seat | 1,697 | 21% |
| Incumbent | 736 | 9.1% |
| (blank) | 714 | 8.8% |
What this counts — and what it does not
- Candidate records, not ballot positions. The FEC file records federal candidate registrations. It does not say who appears on a state ballot.
- Party labels as filed.Party counts use the FEC party-affiliation field as published. The grouped “Other minor labels” row is the aggregate remainder after Democrat, Republican, Independent, and Libertarian.
- No individual named. The page and downloads contain counts only. They do not identify, rank, profile, or characterize any candidate.
- No electoral claim. A registry record is not a forecast, endorsement, qualification judgment, ballot-access finding, or fundraising measure.
Methodology
The study aggregates public.fec_candidates, the Fonteum warehouse table populated from the FEC Candidate Master File. The snapshot date is 2026-06-22. The table is distinct from FEC committee data: this page reads candidate records only and does not overlap the committee-registry study surface.
We ran three GROUP BY queries: records by office, records by party_affiliation, and records by incumbent_challenger_status. Office codes are rendered as House, President, and Senate. Incumbency codes are rendered as Challenger, Open-seat, Incumbent, and blank. The party table groups the minor-party remainder for readability; the reproducing SQL returns the raw FEC party-affiliation field.
Reproduce this
Re-run the aggregate queries exactly as published:
-- 1,290 People Are Running for President — anatomy of the FEC Candidate Master File. -- Source table: public.fec_candidates. -- Snapshot: 2026-06-22. -- Aggregate-only: these GROUP BY queries publish counts, not individual names. SELECT office, count(*) FROM fec_candidates GROUP BY office ORDER BY 2 DESC; -- H 5,626; P 1,290; S 1,163 SELECT party_affiliation, count(*) FROM fec_candidates GROUP BY party_affiliation ORDER BY 2 DESC; -- Major parties: DEM 3,238; REP 3,218. -- Neither major party: 1,623 total (including IND 617 and LIB 144, plus minor labels). SELECT incumbent_challenger_status, count(*) FROM fec_candidates GROUP BY incumbent_challenger_status ORDER BY 2 DESC; -- C 4,932; O 1,697; I 736; blank 714
- Download SQL — the exact aggregate queries above.
- Download JSON · Download CSV — the committed aggregate snapshot.
Re-check the source snapshot
The figures trace to an attested source snapshot. Re-hash the published bytes against the chained attestation, or inspect the official FEC bulk file directly.
Re-check a snapshot → · FEC Candidate Master File · FEC bulk data directory
How to cite this
Fonteum (2026). 1,290 People Are Running for President: Anatomy of the Federal Candidate Registry. Derived from the FEC Candidate Master File, snapshot 2026-06-22. https://fonteum.com/gov/research/fec-candidate-registry-2026
Canonical URL: https://fonteum.com/gov/research/fec-candidate-registry-2026 · License: U.S. Government Works (public domain; 17 U.S.C. §105)
Internal links
Limitations
- The snapshot is a point-in-time count dated 2026-06-22. Candidate registrations can be added, amended, or terminated after the snapshot.
- The FEC file is administrative. It does not measure ballot access, activity, viability, fundraising, or public support.
- Party and incumbency fields are taken from the source as filed. Blank values remain blank.
- The study is aggregate-only and descriptive. It should not be used to make decisions about any individual candidate, donor, committee, employer, or voter.
Sources
One primary government source: the Federal Election Commission Candidate Master File, 2026 cycle bulk download. The source is a U.S. Government work. Confirm the current file at the FEC.
Source: Federal Election Commission — Candidate Master File, snapshot 2026-06-22. Confirm at fec.gov →
Frequently asked questions
How many presidential candidate records are in the FEC candidate registry?
The FEC Candidate Master File snapshot dated 2026-06-22 contains 1,290 presidential candidate records, or 16% of the 8,079 candidate records in this aggregate study. This is a registry count, not an endorsement, ranking, or prediction.
Does this page name any candidate?
No. The study is aggregate-only. It reports counts by office, party affiliation, and incumbency status. It names zero candidates, committees, donors, campaigns, or private individuals.
What does the 20-record major-party gap mean?
It means the FEC snapshot contains 3,238 Democratic candidate records and 3,218 Republican candidate records, a difference of 20 records. The count describes party-affiliation fields in the published registry; it is not a measure of ballot access, campaign strength, fundraising, or electoral viability.
What does challenger, open-seat, incumbent, and blank mean?
These are values in the FEC incumbent/challenger status field. The snapshot contains 4,932 challenger records, 1,697 open-seat records, 736 incumbent records, and 714 records with no value in that field. The study does not infer missing statuses.
How can I reproduce the figures?
Run the three aggregate SQL queries in the Reproduce this block against public.fec_candidates: office counts, party-affiliation counts, and incumbent/challenger-status counts. The SQL, CSV, and JSON downloads are linked on the page and derive from the same committed snapshot.