Methodology & sourcing rules

The single editorial rule of Partyguesser: every roster entry has to be backed by a documented public record. We do not classify people based on vibes, satire, costume choices, or who their friends are.

Evidence we accept

1. FEC individual contribution filings.The Federal Election Commission's public database lists every itemized political donation by name, amount, and recipient committee.
2. On-record endorsements covered by major outlets (AP, Reuters, NBC, CNN, NYT, Fox).
3. Convention or campaign rally appearances — speaking at a party national convention is, on its face, an endorsement.
4. Public party registration where it is on the record.
5. Explicit statements made by the celebrity themselves in interviews or verified social posts.

Evidence we reject

• Inference from lyrics, scripts, or stage costumes.
• Single ambiguous tweets that could be read either way.
• Friendships, family connections, or seating charts.
• Anonymous sources or fan-account speculation.
• Endorsements the celebrity has since publicly retracted without a new endorsement.

The “Independent” rule

Independent is not a wastebasket. We use it for people who explicitly identify with an organized third party (Libertarian, Green) with a documented record, OR who have repeatedly and publicly rejected both major parties. Politically quiet celebrities and mixed-record celebrities are excluded entirely, not classified as Independent.

What we exclude

Many famous Americans are not in the roster, deliberately. Examples we typically skip:

• Athletes whose only signal is a single controversial moment without follow-on evidence.
• Musicians whose public stance has flipped between parties and never re-stabilized.
• Tech founders whose donations are evenly split across both major parties.
• Actors who've explicitly said they don't disclose their politics.

Reveal-screen rationale

Every entry shows a one-sentence neutral rationale pointing at the specific public record (“publicly endorsed candidate X in year Y at event Z”), and the end-of-day sources panel links out to the underlying documentation.

Reporting an error

Open a GitHub issue with a link to a primary source that contradicts the listed affiliation. The standard for changing an entry is the same as the standard for adding one.