The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been standing as an interest group that supports key interests surrounding the protection of the Second Amendment in the United States. The issue of gun control has become increasingly important in American politics. Therefore, interest groups on either side of the issue have worked to back political candidates who support their interests. This has resulted in significant spikes in lobbying activity and more specifically, campaign contributions to candidates. The 2016 and 2018 election cycles, saw the National Rifle Association contribute to an extensive amount of candidates as a result of the state of the country's political landscape at the time of those cycles.
This list of United States congressional candidates who received campaign money from the National Rifle Association of America is from the nonpartisan group OpenSecretsKURTIS LEE and MALOY MOORE, March 3, 2018, Los Angeles Times, The NRA used to be a bipartisan campaign contributor, but that changed in 1994. Here's whyBusiness Insider, February 28, 2018, These are the members of Congress with the most NRA donations, Retrieved April 2, 2018, "...The NRA remains one of the premier gun rights lobbying groups in the US, regularly contributing to congressional candidates...."MPN Now, Richard Hermann, March 7, 2018, Richard Hermann: Blood money flowing from the NRA, Retrieved April 2, 2018, "...The NRA gave $5.9 million to 223 House Republicans and $106,000 to nine House Democrats in the 2016 election cycle...."Debbie Lord of Cox Media, February 28, 2018, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Who are the top 10 recipients of NRA money? which extracts campaign contribution data from the Federal Election Commission. It includes current as well as former representatives and senators as well as candidates for office for the 2016 and 2018Note: 2018 data is added as it becomes available and may not be complete election cycles. This list shows only the direct contributions to each campaign but does not include more substantive contributions for lobbying and outside spending. In 2016, direct contributions (in this list) totaled $1,085,100; lobbying efforts (not in this list) totaled $3,188,000; and outside spending (not in this list) totaled $54,398,558.John Schoen, February 15, 2018, CNBC, Here are the congressional candidates who got the most NRA money in the 2016 campaign, by state – Florida is no. 3, Retrieved April 1, 2018, " ... Of the tens of millions of dollars the National Rifle Association has spent over the years in support of gun rights, only a small share goes directly to individual members of Congress...."OpenSecrets, 2016 election cycle, National Rifle Assn, Retrieved April 1, 2018, "....The NRA's influence is felt not only through campaign contributions, but through millions of dollars in off-the-books spending on issue ads. Lobbying expenditures for the National Rifle Association regularly exceed $1.5 million...." The career totals column includes all money contributed from the NRA either directly or in an effort to elect or reelect the candidate. This includes direct support payments, money spent to elect the candidate and also money used to campaign against the opposing candidate. Money, whether it be in the form of a payment or for campaigning, effectively allows the organization to control what happens in Congress.