What the service delivers

Coverage is 24,000 U.S. political candidates across federal, state, and local races (as of 2026-10-03). Every candidate in that index is documented with the same fields. A field stays empty when the public record for that person does not fill it.

Candidate profiles. A profile organizes the voting record and position history where a voting record exists, public statements, campaign finance filings, financial disclosures, and court records that match the person. A published briefing attaches a source URL and a source type to each claim. Source types include an FEC filing, a secretary of state portal, a court record, an official campaign site, and a government press release. Citation validation records whether that document still exists at the URL and still contains the cited language. A claim that fails validation does not go into a public post. The methodology page states those sourcing rules.

Research books. A research book is prepared per candidate. The sections are biography, voting record, FEC finance, disclosures, court records, and public statements, plus a self-research checklist that asks the same questions about the candidate the campaign works for. What is in an opposition research book lists those sections and shows a labeled sample copied from one published profile. A sample profile, separate from a full book, is on the free sample page.

Contradiction checks. Where a public statement and another sourced record, such as a roll-call vote, both name the person, the file can place them side by side. Both items stay attached. A one-sided flag stays an open question, not a finished line. The workspace receipts feed shows citation-validated packets of that kind: what was said, what the record shows, and the source for each side. The check does not decide whether a line is fair to say. A person still makes that judgment. The comparison of opposition research firms and research software says where a traditional firm is the stronger tool for that judgment.

The same file on your own candidate. Self-research uses the same records on the candidate the campaign works for. The point is that the standard does not change with the side of the race. A longer account is self opposition research.

How the work is done

The work starts from primary public records and stops where those records stop.

  • Federal Election Commission filings for a federal candidate or committee: the committee, the reporting period, receipts, disbursements, and a later amendment when one replaces an earlier total. FEC candidate research is the guide to reading those reports.
  • Voting records. A congressional roll call can be cited to Congress.gov when that page is the record of the vote. A state legislative vote is cited to the state record. No roll call means the voting section stays empty. A term of service is not a vote.
  • Secretary of state candidate filings and the committee registration, which fix the legal name, the office, and the cycle before any other record is attached.
  • Court records, and public enforcement actions, only when the record matches the person. A docket that shares a name and nothing else stays out.

Opposition research sources names the record types in more detail. How to check a voting record against public statements is the step that keeps the vote and the quoted words in separate lines.

The standard is nonpartisan in the narrow sense that matters for a file: the same fields, the same citation rule, and no stated motive. The page does not recommend a message, a party, or an outcome. It describes records.

OppIntell does not run private investigations. It does not conduct surveillance. It does not use pretext contacts, and it does not collect non-public data. Recording a conversation, entering a system that is not public, or treating a rumor as a filing are outside this service. Those limits are the same ones the opposition research page states, and they are not legal advice. A campaign should ask its own counsel before it collects or publishes anything beyond the public record.

Briefs and alerts are a separate offering. The Campaign War Room page lists daily briefs and critical alerts and labels which of those are running and which are still being enabled. An item that page marks as in rollout is not part of the service described here.

Who it is for

Campaigns use the profile and the research book to prepare from the documents, including a pass on their own candidate. Party committees and PACs use the same fields across more than one candidate, so a slate is documented to one standard. Consultants use the file when they move between races: the office, the state, and the cycle stay on the page, and a source stays on the line they share. How a consultant keeps the source attached when a shorter packet leaves the file is covered in sharing candidate findings without losing sources.

Journalists and civic researchers use the same public-record profiles for accountability work. That audience is listed on the use-cases page under watchdog and investigative research. This page does not name a newsroom, a client, or a published investigation.

What oppo research means

Oppo research is the shorthand campaigns, committees, and reporters use for opposition research. Political opposition research is the same work described with the office and the jurisdiction attached: a federal committee's money is an FEC filing, a state candidate's filing is often at the secretary of state, and a voting record exists only when the person has held an office that takes roll-call votes. An opposition research firm and a research platform can both help build that file. They do not deliver the same object. The firms-and-software comparison says where each one is stronger. This page is the description of what OppIntell itself delivers.

Race and state hubs

Start from the office at candidate research by race or from the state at candidate research by state. The links below are hubs that pass the same index gate as their robots tag. A race hub without enough published profiles, and a state hub with no candidates, are left off.

Questions researchers ask

What does an OppIntell opposition research service include?

A candidate profile built from public records, a research book organized by the sections on the research-book page, and a contradiction check when two sourced records about the same person are both on file. Each published claim carries a source. A section with no matching record stays empty.

What does oppo research mean?

Oppo research is the common shorthand for opposition research. On this page it means the same public-record work: a sourced file a campaign, committee, PAC, consultant, or journalist can check. It does not mean a private investigation.

Who are opposition research services for?

Campaigns, party committees, PACs, and political consultants use the file to prepare, to read their own candidate the same way, and to keep a source on every line they might repeat. Journalists and civic researchers use the same public-record profiles for accountability work. The use-cases page describes that wider audience.

Which records does the work use?

Federal money is read from Federal Election Commission filings. A voting record cites the roll call, including a Congress.gov page when that is the record of a congressional vote, or the state legislative record when the vote is not congressional. State candidacies are anchored to secretary of state filings. Court records and public enforcement actions stay in the file only when the record matches the person.

What does OppIntell not do?

OppIntell does not run private investigations, surveillance, or pretext contacts, and it does not collect non-public data. The file does not state a motive or a party preference. A line that is not in a public record stays out.

How does a contradiction check work?

A contradiction check places two sourced records side by side, such as a public statement and a roll-call vote, when both name the person. Both sides stay attached. A check with one side missing stays an open research question. Citation-validated packets of that kind are what the workspace receipts feed shows.

How do I request a research book?

Use the request form on the opposition research page, or the contact page, and name the candidate the file should cover. This page does not state an amount or a turnaround.

Request a research book

Request a research book, or contact us, and name the candidate the file should cover.

Request a research book

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