Derek Willis

News Applications Developer

Derek Willis is 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.

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.

June 6, 11:35 a.m. EDT

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.

May 4, 8 a.m. EDT

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.

May 4, 7:59 a.m. EDT

Reinventing Represent

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

Jan. 22, 10:53 a.m. EST

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.

Dec. 7, 2017, 11:35 a.m. EST

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.

Oct. 23, 2017, 1:47 p.m. EDT

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.

June 15, 2017, 3:30 p.m. EDT

New in the Congress API: Congressional Statements and More

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

May 17, 2017, 8 a.m. EDT

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.

March 23, 2017, 5 a.m. EDT

Congress API Update

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

March 17, 2017, 4:22 p.m. EDT

ProPublica’s on IFTTT

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

Jan. 23, 2017, 10:01 p.m. EST

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.

Jan. 9, 2017, 5:16 p.m. EST

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.

Dec. 23, 2016, 9 a.m. EST

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.

Dec. 9, 2016, 4:20 p.m. EST

Sunlight Labs Takeover Update

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

Dec. 8, 2016, 4 a.m. EST

Reporting Recipe: Election Administration Data From Electionland

How to use a federal election administration data set to cover the U.S. elections.

Oct. 31, 2016, 11:58 a.m. EDT

That Time I Was Investigated for Voter Fraud

If you think voter fraud is an unprosecuted crime, tell that to the Maryland investigators who knocked on my front door in 2014.

Oct. 25, 2016, 10:08 a.m. EDT

How Are Elections Run in Your County?

One way to predict how the 2016 election will run is to look at how things went the last time we elected a president.

Oct. 19, 2016, 3:32 p.m. EDT

Voting Has Started, and Electionland Is on the Case

Much of the country will vote before Election Day. Starting this week, our Electionland project has begun looking for problems that prevent people from voting.

Oct. 4, 2016, 8 a.m. EDT

Election DataBot

This new tool, updated every 15 minutes, collects huge amounts of election data and reports the most interesting details, in real time, about campaign finance filings, congressional votes, polls, forecasts, Google search trends, and more.

Sept. 8, 2016, 5 a.m. EDT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

‘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.

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

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

How to use a federal election administration data set to cover the U.S. elections.

If you think voter fraud is an unprosecuted crime, tell that to the Maryland investigators who knocked on my front door in 2014.

One way to predict how the 2016 election will run is to look at how things went the last time we elected a president.

Much of the country will vote before Election Day. Starting this week, our Electionland project has begun looking for problems that prevent people from voting.

This new tool, updated every 15 minutes, collects huge amounts of election data and reports the most interesting details, in real time, about campaign finance filings, congressional votes, polls, forecasts, Google search trends, and more.

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