Methodology

Data Sources

Metro Council Watch aggregates public data from multiple official sources to provide a comprehensive view of campaign finance activity:

Davidson County Election Commission (DCEC) — Campaign finance contribution records via the EasyVote Campaign Finance System API and manually processed PDF disclosure forms
Nashville Metro Clerk / Legistar — Council member information and legislative records
U.S. Census Bureau Geocoding API — Address verification and geographic classification
Metro Nashville GIS — Council district boundary data for point-in-polygon location lookups

Data Extraction Process

Campaign finance data is collected through two complementary methods:

1. DCEC API: We query the Davidson County Election Commission's public API by candidate name to retrieve recent contribution records. Each contribution includes the donor name, address, date, and amount.

2. PDF Disclosure Processing: For complete historical data, we manually process the official campaign finance disclosure PDFs filed with DCEC. This captures contributions that may not appear in the API, including itemized details like employer and occupation.

Duplicate contributions are detected using a combination of member ID, contributor name, amount, and date to prevent double-counting across data sources.

Finance Grade Calculation

Each council member receives a letter grade (A through F) based on where their campaign contributions originate. The grade reflects the degree to which a member is funded by local constituents versus outside interests.

Location Weighting:

In-District: 100% weight — Direct support from constituents the member represents
Nashville (outside district): 75% weight — Local support from elsewhere in Davidson County
Tennessee (outside Nashville): 50% weight — Statewide interest
Out of State: -75% weight — External influence, treated as a negative factor

Grade Thresholds:

A (≥80%): Strong local support
B (≥65%): Good local support
C (≥50%): Mixed local and outside funding
D (≥30%): Mostly outside support
F (<30%): Minimal local support

Note: Members who have raised $0 receive an "A+" grade. Members in the current election cycle with less than $5,000 raised show "N/A" until sufficient data is available.

Donation Type Categories

Contributions are automatically classified into categories based on pattern matching of contributor names and organization indicators:

Individual: Personal donations from people (the most common type)
PAC: Political Action Committees and advocacy organizations
Union: Labor organizations (SEIU, IBEW, Teamsters, etc.)
Campaign Committee: Other politicians' campaign funds ("Friends of...", etc.)
Party: Political party organizations (Democratic Party, Republican Party)
Corporate: Businesses and companies (LLC, Inc., Corp., etc.)
Self: Candidate self-funding (when the contributor name matches the council member)

Location Classification

Each contribution is classified by its geographic origin:

District: The contributor's address is within the council member's specific district (for at-large members, this includes all of Davidson County)
Nashville: Davidson County, but outside the member's district
Tennessee: Within Tennessee but outside Davidson County
Out of State: Outside Tennessee
Unknown: Bulk filings or unitemized contributions where location cannot be determined

Note: Political organizations (PACs, unions, campaign committees) are never classified as "District" because they represent organizational interests rather than constituent support, even when headquartered locally.

Data Limitations

We believe in transparency about what our data can and cannot show:

Bulk filings: Some disclosure forms list contributions as "See Attached" without providing the attached itemization. These contributions are included in totals but excluded from grade calculations since we cannot determine their source.
Unitemized contributions: Small donations reported as lump sums without individual donor details are classified as "Unknown" location.
API limitations: The DCEC API returns approximately 300 recent contributions per candidate. We supplement with manual PDF processing for completeness.
Address accuracy: Location classification depends on the accuracy of addresses provided in filings. We use Census Bureau geocoding when possible, with ZIP code fallback for ambiguous addresses.
Individual donor privacy: Small donors ($250 or less) are displayed as "Small Donor #1", "Small Donor #2", etc. Larger individual donors are shown as first name and last initial (e.g., "Davis H.") to protect privacy while maintaining transparency.

Update Frequency

Data is updated periodically as new campaign finance disclosures become available from DCEC. The 2023 election cycle data is considered complete. The 2027 cycle data is updated as new filings are processed.

For the most authoritative and up-to-date information, we encourage users to consult the official records at the Davidson County Election Commission.

Changelog

A record of significant data updates and methodology changes:

February 23, 2025
Processed and reconciled 30 Year-End Supplemental 2025 disclosures. Added new filings for Ginny Welsch, Sandra Sepulveda, Jeff Gregg, and Angie Henderson (exempt).
February 18, 2025
Added "Filing" filter to contributions table on profile pages, allowing users to view contributions from a specific disclosure. Added "Recently Processed Disclosures" table to homepage showing the 10 most recent filings with contribution counts and totals.
February 7, 2025
Added transition badge display for 2027 cycle candidates seeking different offices. Badges now show the transition (e.g., "D-24 → D-6") when a member is running for a different position than they currently hold.
February 4, 2025
Updated election cycle assignment to use the election date declared in each filing (Field 3) rather than contribution dates. This ensures contributions are correctly attributed to the election cycle they were raised for. Backfilled all existing filings with corrected election cycles.
January 2025
Initial launch with 2023 election cycle data for all 40 council members. Added 2027 election cycle tracking for members who have begun fundraising.

Questions or Corrections?

If you believe any data is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact us at [email protected].