FEC filings and state campaign disclosures publish parts of your address by law. Broker sites publish the rest. Do the privacy work in the months before you announce, while you still control the timeline.
Run a free scan →Public political roles attract opposition research and harassment. Almost all of it starts with information that's already public.
Campaign-finance disclosures require an address for the candidate and for each itemized donor. That data is built for journalists and researchers, and it's just as easy for anyone else to pull. You can't opt out of the filing, but you can keep brokers from republishing more than the law requires.
Local and national press researching your background pull from the same broker layer. Less broker exposure going into the press cycle means less material for "associated person" speculation and gotcha-style profiles.
Documented attacks on political figures since 2020 frequently come through family members. Spouses, parents, and adult children share broker-linked records. Removing only the candidate's data leaves the household exposed.
Removal confirmations usually arrive within 7 to 30 days. Search interest in your name spikes once you announce, and brokers refresh their records fast to match. Start the work before that cycle begins.
Three to six months before the announcement is the comfortable window. After you announce, you're playing catch-up.
Run a free scan →A free scan takes under a minute and shows what's public now: broker listings, people-search profiles, and what surfaces in a search of your name. That's the same starting point an opposition researcher would use.
We file removal requests covering your address, family relationships, employer, past addresses, and alumni associations. Each one reduces what's searchable once the press cycle starts.
You can add paid coverage for your spouse, adult children, and parents if they share an address. Brokers link records by household, so removing only the candidate's data leaves the rest of the family exposed.
Brokers refresh their data as new public records appear, and a campaign generates plenty of new ones. We run a full scan every month for new listings and re-file removals without you having to track it.
| Manual opt-outs | Generic privacy tools | Delist.ai | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage approach | Sites you identify | Varies by provider | Brokers, people-search sites, AI, search |
| Pre-announcement timeline | Months of part-time work | Variable | We handle it in weeks, not months |
| Family coverage | Repeat per person | Varies | Add members |
| Campaign-cycle monitoring | You notice | Periodic | Monthly |
| Escalation | Draft yourself | Rarely | We escalate under state privacy law |
| Time investment | Hours per week | Setup and check-ins | We handle filing and follow-up |
Federal campaign-finance filings require an address for the candidate and for each donor giving more than the itemization threshold ($200 for federal). That address becomes part of the public record, and many states have similar rules at the state-office level. There's typically no opt-out: running for office means some address information becomes public by law. The privacy work focuses on what's still in your control: broker sites, social media, and search results.
Two reasons. FEC filings sit in a structured database that takes some effort to search. Broker sites publish the same address in a format built for casual search, no research skill required. FEC also publishes only your current address, while broker sites publish your full address history, your family members' addresses, and your past workplaces, far more than disclosure law requires.
Not as a privacy move. Residency requirements for political office are strict and tied to your actual life. State Address Confidentiality Programs (ACPs) for documented victims of stalking or domestic violence are the legitimate path for shielding home addresses on public records. For most candidates without that documented basis, the available privacy work is the broker-layer cleanup.
Yes, often more than you. Documented attacks on political figures since 2020 have frequently targeted family members. In the 2025 Hortman case, the shooter used people-search sites to track down victims, including former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman. Family-plan coverage lets your spouse and adult children remove their own broker-published data alongside yours.
Start as early as your campaign and safety plan allow. Broker processing times vary, and some requests require verification or follow-up. Delist runs monthly full scans after the first filing round, but no service can guarantee every source is cleared by announcement day.
Background reading: Remove yourself from Google
A free scan shows what's exposed today. The timeline matters.
Run a free scan →Free scan. No card required.