Political party committee

In the United States, a political party committee is an organization, officially affiliated with a political party and registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which raises and spends money for political campaigning. Political party committees are distinct from political action committees, which are formally independent of political parties and subject to different rules.

Though their own internal rules differ, the two major political parties (Democrats and Republicans) have essentially parallel sets of committees; third parties have more varied organizational structures.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC), Reform Party National Committee, Green National Committee, Libertarian National Committee, and Republican National Committee (RNC) are the official central organizations for their respective parties. They have the greatest role in presidential election years when they are responsible for planning the nominating convention.

The DNC and RNC were founded in 1848 and 1854, respectively. For much of their histories, the committees consisted of federated state organizations that came together every four years to organize a convention and support a national ticket, but did very little business outside of presidential years. The two committees did not have permanent staff or headquarters in Washington, DC until the early 1900s; Republicans opened their first headquarters in 1918, and Democrats followed in 1929. Beginning in the late 1970s, national party committees, including congressional committees, massively expanded their financial resources, hired larger staffs, and became more active in campaigns.

Party committees spend heavily in support of their party's nominees. Spending by national party committees includes contributions directly to candidate campaigns, expenditures coordinated with nominated candidate campaigns, independent expenditures, and transfers to state or local party committees. National party expenditures may directly support a federal candidate, but may also fund general party building activities, like a voter registration drive that would help all candidates on a party's ticket in that area.

The two major parties also have two national Hill committees, controlled by their caucus leadership in each house of Congress, which work specifically to elect members of their own party to the United States Congress. "Hill" refers to Capitol Hill, where the seat of Congress, the Capitol, is located. The four major committees are part of the Democratic and Republican parties and each work to help members of their party get elected to their respective chamber, the House of Representatives or the Senate.

The four major committees are the:

Two third parties have Hill committees as well: The Libertarian National Congressional Committee (LNCC) for the Libertarian Party and the Green Senatorial Campaign Committee (GSCC) for the Green Party of the United States.