CandidateFile
A voter-research app that builds a one-page verified brief on any political candidate — allegations, voting record, donor history, and local press coverage — so voters can quickly assess candidates beyond campaign ads and viral headlines.
US voters who want to research down-ballot candidates before primary or general elections
- Search any candidate by name and get a sourced one-pager with allegations, votes, and donor totals
- Timeline view of every public controversy with date, source, and current status
- Side-by-side comparison of candidates in the same race
- Browser extension that injects the brief on Wikipedia, Ballotpedia, and news pages
The Graham Platner allegation is the latest example of a candidate's personal history breaking during a campaign; voters increasingly need fast, source-linked summaries rather than partisan hot takes that flood social media.
Platner controversy generated multi-outlet coverage (AP, Fox, ABC, Katie Couric), but voter-research apps are rarely top-of-funnel; voters mostly learn via news/social, not dedicated tools.Maine candidate Graham Platner says tattoo linked to Nazi symbol is... ↗Maine's Graham Platner's Controversies: Sexting, Ex-Girlfriends, Tattoo ↗
Crowded market of established free competitors: Ballotpedia, Vote Smart, iSideWith, GovTrack, On the Issues, VoteMate — all cover candidate bios/voting records/donors today.Vote Smart Alternatives - Explore Similar Sites & Apps ↗Ballotpedia ↗
Incumbents (Ballotpedia, Vote Smart) run on donations; iSideWith is ad-supported — voters expect civic info free, so willingness-to-pay for a brief is weak and would likely need nonprofit/ads.Ballotpedia ↗2024 Voter Guide - iSideWith ↗
Elections recur every 1-2 years per jurisdiction and candidate controversies are constant, so the content need is durable; however, partisan trust cycles could shift demand unpredictably.
Underlying data is public (news, FEC, OpenSecrets, state legislative records) and LLMs can summarize, but verified sourcing, libel exposure, and freshness around breaking allegations make it non-trivial.