Derek Willis

News Applications Developer

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Derek Willis was a news applications developer at ProPublica, focusing on politics and elections. He previously worked as a developer and reporter at The New York Times, a database editor at The Washington Post, and at the Center for Public Integrity and Congressional Quarterly. He began his journalism career at The Palm Beach Post. He is a co-founder of OpenElections, a project to collect and publish election results from all 50 states.

Shedding Some Light on Dark Money Political Donors

Political nonprofits don’t have to disclose the names of their donors. But thanks to a good-government group, you can now find out about nearly $763 million in donations to these “dark money” organizations.

Paying the President

Track the money that goes into the president’s pocket from political campaigns and taxpayers.

New in the Congress API: Lobbying Registrations and More

Our Congress API now lets programmers access lobbying data. It also lets them find congressional press releases that mention bills.

How You Can Keep Track of the Money Political Committees Spend at Trump Properties

Our FEC Itemizer Database now tracks spending at hotels, restaurants and other facilities owned by the Trump Organization.

We’ve Updated FEC Itemizer. See What’s New.

ProPublica’s database of campaign filings now includes spending by political committees at Trump Organization properties.

Reinventing Represent

We asked readers to help us reconceive and redesign an interactive database that tracks Congress. Here’s how the process worked.

Covering the Midterms With Election DataBot

It’s not too early to think about reporting on the midterm elections. Get a head start using our free, near-real-time database.

The Voter Fraud Commission Wants Your Data — But Experts Say They Can’t Keep It Safe

Newly revealed records show sloppy practices that could put millions of people’s information at risk.

New in Our Congress API: Bill Subjects, Personal Explanations and Sunsetting Sunlight

What you need to know about some new features in our Congress API, as well as details on our plans to turn off the Sunlight Congress API on Aug. 31.

New in the Congress API: Congressional Statements and More

Get data on House and Senate press releases and more bill information.

On Health Reform, Democrats and Republicans Don’t Speak the Same Language

We analyzed more than 575 press releases from representatives and senators about the Affordable Care Act and its repeal. Democrats, we found, speak more often and are more united.

Congress API Update

Here’s a status update for developers who use the Sunlight Congress API.

ProPublica’s on IFTTT

We’re relaunching a service that lets you make notifications when some key real-world things happen in Washington.

Politwoops: Explore the Tweets They Didn’t Want You to See

Politwoops tracks deleted tweets by public officials, including people currently in office and candidates for office.

The Continuing Muddle at a Pro-Trump Political Committee

‘America Comes First’ can’t seem to decide if it’s a PAC or a super PAC, but in either case its federal filings remain problematic.

Pro-Trump Group Blew by Basic Campaign Finance Laws

The America Comes First PAC did not disclose its donors before Election Day. And its top funder is banned from the securities industry.

Sunlight Labs Takeover Update

A status update on the projects we took over from the Sunlight Foundation

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