How to Fill Out FEC Form 2 Online: Statement of Candidacy

To fill out FEC Form 2, the Statement of Candidacy, enter your name and address, your candidate ID number if you have one, your party, the office you’re seeking, your state and district, the election year, and the name and address of your principal campaign committee, then sign and date the form. It’s a one-page filing, but it locks in your candidate ID, your committee designation, and your reporting obligations for the whole election cycle, so accuracy on the small fields matters.

When the Form Is Due

You become a federal candidate the moment you or people acting on your behalf raise or spend more than $5,000 for a House, Senate, or presidential race. Personal money you loan to the campaign counts toward that $5,000. Once you cross it, you have 15 days to file Form 2 with the FEC.¹

Vice presidential nominees don’t file their own Form 2. The presidential nominee’s campaign committee covers them.²

If you spent money exploring a run before deciding to enter, that “testing the waters” activity didn’t require FEC registration on its own. But every dollar you raised or spent during that phase counts toward the $5,000 threshold once you decide to run, and it has to be reported on your later financial disclosure reports.³

What to Gather Before You Start

Form 2 is available as a PDF on the FEC’s website. Have these ready before you open it:

Your full legal name and mailing address, exactly as you want them to appear on the public record.
Your party affiliation.
The office you’re seeking — House, Senate, or President — plus the state and, for House candidates, the district number.
Your existing FEC candidate ID, if you have one. The FEC assigns a nine-character code that starts with H, S, or P, and it stays with you across cycles as long as you seek the same office. First-time candidates, and anyone switching to a different office or district, will get a new one.⁴
The name and street address of your principal campaign committee. The committee’s name must include your name as the candidate.²
The election year, and a note if you’re running in a special election.

Filling Out the Form Line by Line

The form has eight numbered lines and a signature block.

Line 1. Your full legal name and mailing address.

Line 2. Your FEC candidate identification number. Leave it blank if this is your first campaign or if you’re running for a different office or district than before. The FEC will assign one after it processes your form. Returning candidates running for the same seat use the ID from their earlier filing.¹

Line 3. Check “New” if this is your first Form 2 for this candidacy. Check “Amended” if you’re updating information from an earlier Form 2.

Lines 4–6. Party affiliation, the office you’re seeking, and your state and district.

Line 7. The election year and the full name and street address of your principal campaign committee. If you’re running in a special election, note that under the year. A candidate running in both a special election and the regular primary or general election must file a separate Form 2 for each, though the same principal campaign committee can be designated for both.²

Line 8. Names and addresses of any additional authorized committees beyond your principal campaign committee. Joint fundraising committees go here. Every authorized committee’s name must include your name as the candidate. Attach additional sheets if you run out of space.

Signature

Sign and date the bottom. Your signature certifies that the information is true, correct, and complete. The form itself warns that submitting false, erroneous, or incomplete information can subject you to penalties under 52 U.S.C. §30109.⁵

How to File It

Campaigns that have received or spent — or expect to receive or spend — more than $50,000 in a calendar year must file electronically.⁶ Most serious campaigns clear that bar quickly. Electronic filings go through the FEC’s free FECFile software or the FEC’s webform portal at webforms.fec.gov. You need to set up an electronic filing password before your first submission, and the system requires you to validate the filing before uploading. Emailed reports are not accepted.⁷

If you’re below the $50,000 threshold, you can mail a signed paper form. The addresses use different ZIP codes depending on the carrier:

U.S. Postal Service: Federal Election Commission, 1050 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20463
FedEx, UPS, DHL, and other delivery services: Federal Election Commission, 1050 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002

Paper filers who aren’t required to file electronically also have the option of submitting a letter containing the same information as Form 2 instead of the form itself.⁸⁹

What Happens After You File

First-time candidates get a nine-character candidate ID after the FEC processes the form. That number follows you as long as you keep running for the same office. You’ll use it on every subsequent FEC filing, so keep it somewhere you can find it.⁴

Form 2 is only half of registration. Your principal campaign committee has to file a Statement of Organization (FEC Form 1) within 10 days of being designated on your Form 2. The same 10-day deadline applies to any additional authorized committees you listed on Line 8. House and Senate principal campaign committees also file a copy of Form 1 with the secretary of state (or equivalent office) in the state where the seat is located, unless that state participates in the FEC’s state filing waiver program.¹⁰

Regular reports of receipts and disbursements begin after registration on the FEC’s election-year schedule, and they must account for all campaign financial activity, including anything from a testing-the-waters phase.³

Amending Form 2

If information on the form changes — a new committee address, an additional authorized committee, a corrected district number — file an amended Form 2 within 10 days of the change. Check “Amended” on Line 3 instead of “New.”¹¹ Designating a joint fundraising committee after your initial filing is a common reason for an amendment, since it has to appear on Line 8.

Personal Financial Disclosure Is Separate

Form 2 registers your candidacy with the FEC. It does not satisfy the personal financial disclosure that federal candidates owe to a different office. House candidates who cross the $5,000 threshold file a financial disclosure report with the House Committee on Ethics, generally within 30 days of becoming a candidate or by May 15 of that year, whichever is later. If you become a candidate less than 30 days before the election, the report is due immediately. The Ethics Committee can grant extensions of up to 90 days if you request one before the original deadline.¹² Senate candidates file with the Secretary of the Senate through efd.senate.gov,¹³ and presidential candidates file with the FEC, which sends the report to the Office of Government Ethics for review.¹⁴

1
Federal Election Commission. Registering a Candidate
2
Federal Election Commission. Instructions for Statement of Candidacy (FEC Form 2)
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Federal Election Commission. Testing the Waters for Possible Candidacy
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Federal Election Commission. Candidate Master File Description
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Federal Election Commission. FEC Form 2 – Statement of Candidacy
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eCFR. 11 CFR 104.18 – Electronic Filing of Reports
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Federal Election Commission. Electronic Filing Overview
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eCFR. 11 CFR Part 101 – Candidate Status and Designations
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Federal Election Commission. Paper Filing
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Federal Election Commission. Instructions for Statement of Organization (FEC Form 1)
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Federal Election Commission. Filing Amendments
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House Committee on Ethics. FAQs About Financial Disclosure for Candidates
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U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics. Financial Disclosure
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U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Public Financial Disclosures: Candidates for President and Vice President of the United States