Californians for Fair Elections
Californians for Fair Elections is a political services vendor. In the 2025-2026 cycle Californians for Fair Elections was paid $2.38M across 8 client committees, of which $972K flowed through Independent Expenditures rather than direct committee payments.
Part I Identity
Stable facts about this entity. These figures do not change as you adjust the timeframe in Part II.
Source split
| Schedule B direct committee payments |
$1,410,958 | 30 rows | 59.2% |
| Independent Expenditures money this entity spent supporting candidates, NOT a committee paying them |
$972,385 | 14 rows | 40.8% |
- Activity span ALL TIME
- Mar 10, 2005 → Sep 1, 2026
- spans 21.5 years
- Disbursements ALL TIME
- 30
- Schedule B + IE rows
- Client committees ALL TIME
- 8
- distinct payers
Part II Activity in selected window
One timeframe control governs all three panels below. Change it once and the trajectory, top buyers, and party breakdown all update together.
Spend trajectory
Monthly spend to this vendor over the last 12 months.
Top buyers
Two views of the same data — diagram and table share the time-window control and the same top-buyers slice. Click "View all buyers in research" to drill in with the matching date range.
Top buyers last 1 months · top 1
| Filer | Total spend | Disbursements |
|---|---|---|
| CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECTIONS, SPONSORED BY GOVERNMENT REFORM ADVOCATES 1488162 |
$15,322 IE $7,661 · SB $7,661 |
2 |
Top buyers last 3 months · top 3
| Filer | Total spend | Disbursements |
|---|---|---|
| HEERWAGEN, JAMES 1381429 |
$100,000 | 1 |
| CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECTIONS, SPONSORED BY GOVERNMENT REFORM ADVOCATES 1488162 |
$25,322 IE $7,661 · SB $17,661 |
3 |
| UMBERG BALLOT MEASURE COMMITTEE; COLONEL (RET.) TOM 1467830 |
$10,000 | 1 |
Top buyers last 6 months · top 3
| Filer | Total spend | Disbursements |
|---|---|---|
| HEERWAGEN, JAMES 1381429 |
$100,000 | 1 |
| CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECTIONS, SPONSORED BY GOVERNMENT REFORM ADVOCATES 1488162 |
$30,322 IE $7,661 · SB $22,661 |
4 |
| UMBERG BALLOT MEASURE COMMITTEE; COLONEL (RET.) TOM 1467830 |
$10,000 | 1 |
Top buyers last 12 months · top 4
| Filer | Total spend | Disbursements |
|---|---|---|
| HEERWAGEN, JAMES 1381429 |
$100,000 | 1 |
| CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECTIONS, SPONSORED BY GOVERNMENT REFORM ADVOCATES 1488162 |
$40,322 IE $7,661 · SB $32,661 |
5 |
| UMBERG BALLOT MEASURE COMMITTEE; COLONEL (RET.) TOM 1467830 |
$10,000 | 1 |
| LEE FOR STATE ASSEMBLY 2026; ALEX 1476921 |
$10,000 | 1 |
Top buyers last 18 months · top 4
| Filer | Total spend | Disbursements |
|---|---|---|
| HEERWAGEN, JAMES 1381429 |
$100,000 | 1 |
| CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECTIONS, SPONSORED BY GOVERNMENT REFORM ADVOCATES 1488162 |
$40,322 IE $7,661 · SB $32,661 |
5 |
| UMBERG BALLOT MEASURE COMMITTEE; COLONEL (RET.) TOM 1467830 |
$10,000 | 1 |
| LEE FOR STATE ASSEMBLY 2026; ALEX 1476921 |
$10,000 | 1 |
Top buyers last 24 months · top 4
| Filer | Total spend | Disbursements |
|---|---|---|
| HEERWAGEN, JAMES 1381429 |
$100,000 | 1 |
| CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECTIONS, SPONSORED BY GOVERNMENT REFORM ADVOCATES 1488162 |
$40,322 IE $7,661 · SB $32,661 |
5 |
| UMBERG BALLOT MEASURE COMMITTEE; COLONEL (RET.) TOM 1467830 |
$10,000 | 1 |
| LEE FOR STATE ASSEMBLY 2026; ALEX 1476921 |
$10,000 | 1 |
By party
| Party | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic | $0 | 0.00% |
| Republican | $0 | 0.00% |
| Non-partisan | $2,383,343 | 100.00% |
Part III Reference tables
Full all-time and cycle-to-date data.
Money flow through this vendor
Where their ad buys point
IE payers (left) → races the buys targeted (right) · independent-expenditure filings onlyCycle-over-cycle trajectory
current cycle earlier election cycle off-cycle year quarterly · 1 year
| Year | Q | Cycle | Total | Txns | Top buyer · share | Top category · share | Cum. (cycle) | YoY % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Q1 | 2026 | $20K | 2 | CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECT… 50% | Other / Unclassified 100% | $20K | — |
| 2026 | Q2 | 2026 | $125K | 4 | HEERWAGEN, JAMES 80% | Contributions & Trans… 4% | $145K | — |
| 2026 | Q3 | 2026 | $8K | 1 | CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECT… 100% | Wages & Payroll 100% | $153K | — |
Revenue by service category
| Category | Total spend | Txns | Avg check | % of total | Top buyer · share | Last paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other / Unclassified | $1,076,650 | 23 | $47K | 98.7% | CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECT… 96% | 6mo ago |
| Wages & Payroll | $7,661 | 1 | $8K | 0.7% | CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECT… 100% | 2w ago |
| Contributions & Transfers | $5,000 | 1 | $5K | 0.5% | CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECT… 100% | 3mo ago |
| Field & Voter Contact | $871 | 1 | $871 | 0.1% | CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECT… 100% | 20y ago |
| Media | $776 | 1 | $776 | 0.1% | CALIFORNIANS FOR FAIR ELECT… 100% | 20y ago |
Client retention
Sticky-relationship signal: how many clients keep coming back across cycles vs one-time buyers.
Geographic concentration
Where this vendor's clients are based — federal committees by state, plus implicit jurisdiction for CA and TX state filers.
| State | Total spend | % of revenue | Clients | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | $1,410,958 | 100.0% | 8 |
Notable disbursements
5 largest all-time · 5 largest in the current cycle · 5 most recent. Each row earns its place.