Office term

One person’s term in one seat: when it began and ended, how they got it and how it ended.

Show samples as

The sample at the end of the page as JSON, or as CSV (format=csv).

Returned by: GET /v1/office-terms, GET /v1/offices/{slug}
Found in: Office (current_holders, terms)
Shapes: The full record is in GET /v1/office-terms. The shorter forms in an office’s current holders leave some fields out; a field that isn’t in every form says where it is.

How it connects

office is the seat’s slug (GET /v1/offices/{slug}). person_key is the same for one person across all their terms and seats.
contest_id is the election that gave the term; candidate_id links to the candidate when they were on one of our ballots. Appointees and holders elected before 2018 have neither.

Good to know

Each re-election is a new term.
Dates come from the source (dates_basis sourced) or from the law that sets when terms start (statutory). An end_date taken from the next holder’s start says next_holder.
end_date is null while the holder is serving, or until we know when they left.

Fields

Field	Type	Meaning	Example
`id`	integer	Term id.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`1`
`office`	stringMatches ^[a-z0-9]+(-[a-z0-9]+)*$	The seat’s slug.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`us-house-ca-1`
`office_name`	string	The seat’s name.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`U.S. Representative, California Congressional District 1`
`state`	stringor nullTwo capital letters (USPS code)	USPS state code.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`CA`
`name`	string	The holder’s name as the source gives it.	`Doug LaMalfa`
`person_key`	string	Stable id for the person across terms: bioguide:<id>, ocd-person/<uuid>, or name:<state>:<family>-<given>. Pass as person= to list someone’s terms.	`name:ca:lamalfa-doug`
`candidate_id`	integeror null	Their candidate id (GET /v1/candidates/{id}) when they were on one of our ballots.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`73171`
`bioguide_id`	stringor null	Congressional Biographical Directory id, for members of Congress.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`H001068`
`openstates_person_id`	stringor null	Open States person id (as in GET /v1/officeholders).Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	—
`party`	stringor null	Party when the term began.	`Republican`
`party_changes`	array of object	Party switches during the term.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	—
`party_changes[].on`	stringYYYY-MM-DD	Date of the switch.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	—
`party_changes[].party_slug`	string	The new party.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	—
`how`	string	How the term began.`elected`, `special_election`, `appointed`, `succeeded`, `retained`, `holdover`, `other` meanings	`elected`
`start_date`	stringor nullYYYY-MM-DD	When they took office.	`2021-01-03`
`end_date`	stringor nullYYYY-MM-DD	When they left office; null while serving or not known.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`2023-01-03`
`scheduled_end_date`	stringor nullYYYY-MM-DD	When the term was due to end.	`2023-01-03`
`end_reason`	stringor null	How the term ended.10 values: meaningsOnly in GET /v1/office-terms.	`term_ended`
`dates_basis`	stringor null	Where the dates come from.`sourced`, `statutory`, `next_holder` meaningsOnly in GET /v1/office-terms.	`statutory`
`election_date`	stringor nullYYYY-MM-DD	The election that gave the term, if any.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`2020-11-03`
`contest_id`	integeror null	That election’s contest (GET /v1/contests/{id}).Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`109060`
`district_ocd_id`	stringor null	The district version they served from.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`ocd-division/country:us/state:ca/cd:1/plan:2020`
`district_id`	integeror null	Its contest district id.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`89089`
`source`	object	Where the term comes from.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	—
`source.kind`	string	What kind of source the term comes from: results, official or dataset.`results`, `official`, `dataset` meaningsOnly in GET /v1/office-terms.	`results`
`source.name`	string	Who published the term’s facts: an election office, a legislature, a dataset.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`Federal Election Commission, Federal Elections 2020 (official results)`
`source.url`	stringURL	Where the term’s facts were published.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2020.xlsx`
`source.license`	stringor null	For a dataset, its license (CC0-1.0, public domain).Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	—
`source.retrieved_on`	stringor nullYYYY-MM-DD	When we read a dataset.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	—
`updated_at`	stringISO 8601 date and time with time zone	When we last changed this term.Only in GET /v1/office-terms.	`2026-11-14T03:18:48.42618+00:00`

Download every dictionary as CSV or JSON.

CSV: `GET /v1/office-terms?format=csv`

One row per term: one person in one seat for one term. An empty cell is a null or a value that doesn’t apply. The next page’s cursor comes in the X-Next-Cursor header.

Column	Type	Meaning	Example
`term_id`	integer	Term id.From id in the JSON.	`1`
`office`	stringMatches ^[a-z0-9]+(-[a-z0-9]+)*$	The seat’s slug.From office in the JSON.	`us-house-ca-1`
`office_name`	string	The seat’s name.From office_name in the JSON.	`U.S. Representative, California Congressional District 1`
`state`	stringcan be emptyTwo capital letters (USPS code)	USPS state code.From state in the JSON.	`CA`
`name`	string	The holder’s name as the source gives it.From name in the JSON.	`Doug LaMalfa`
`person_key`	string	Stable id for the person across terms: bioguide:<id>, ocd-person/<uuid>, or name:<state>:<family>-<given>. Pass as person= to list someone’s terms.From person_key in the JSON.	`name:ca:lamalfa-doug`
`candidate_id`	integercan be empty	Their candidate id (GET /v1/candidates/{id}) when they were on one of our ballots.From candidate_id in the JSON.	`73171`
`bioguide_id`	stringcan be empty	Congressional Biographical Directory id, for members of Congress.From bioguide_id in the JSON.	`H001068`
`openstates_person_id`	stringcan be empty	Open States person id (as in GET /v1/officeholders).From openstates_person_id in the JSON.	—
`party`	stringcan be empty	Party when the term began.From party in the JSON.	`Republican`
`how`	string	How the term began.`elected`, `special_election`, `appointed`, `succeeded`, `retained`, `holdover`, `other` meaningsFrom how in the JSON.	`elected`
`start_date`	stringcan be emptyYYYY-MM-DD	When they took office.From start_date in the JSON.	`2021-01-03`
`end_date`	stringcan be emptyYYYY-MM-DD	When they left office; null while serving or not known.From end_date in the JSON.	`2023-01-03`
`scheduled_end_date`	stringcan be emptyYYYY-MM-DD	When the term was due to end.From scheduled_end_date in the JSON.	`2023-01-03`
`end_reason`	stringcan be empty	How the term ended.10 values: meaningsFrom end_reason in the JSON.	`term_ended`
`dates_basis`	stringcan be empty	Where the dates come from.`sourced`, `statutory`, `next_holder` meaningsFrom dates_basis in the JSON.	`statutory`
`election_date`	stringcan be emptyYYYY-MM-DD	The election that gave the term, if any.From election_date in the JSON.	`2020-11-03`
`contest_id`	integercan be empty	That election’s contest (GET /v1/contests/{id}).From contest_id in the JSON.	`109060`
`district_ocd_id`	stringcan be empty	The district version they served from.From district_ocd_id in the JSON.	`ocd-division/country:us/state:ca/cd:1/plan:2020`
`district_id`	integercan be empty	Its contest district id.From district_id in the JSON.	`89089`
`source_kind`	string	What kind of source the term comes from: results, official or dataset.`results`, `official`, `dataset` meaningsFrom source.kind in the JSON.	`results`
`source_name`	string	Who published the term’s facts: an election office, a legislature, a dataset.From source.name in the JSON.	`Federal Election Commission, Federal Elections 2020 (official results)`
`source_url`	stringURL	Where the term’s facts were published.From source.url in the JSON.	`https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2020.xlsx`
`license`	stringcan be empty	For a dataset, its license (CC0-1.0, public domain).From source.license in the JSON.	—
`updated_at`	stringISO 8601 date and time with time zone	When we last changed this term.From updated_at in the JSON.	`2026-11-14T03:18:48.42618+00:00`

Sample (JSON)

One office term as the API returns it, in GET /v1/office-terms. More in the sample data.

{
  "id": 1,
  "office": "us-house-ca-1",
  "office_name": "U.S. Representative, California Congressional District 1",
  "state": "CA",
  "name": "Doug LaMalfa",
  "person_key": "name:ca:lamalfa-doug",
  "candidate_id": 73171,
  "bioguide_id": null,
  "openstates_person_id": null,
  "party": "Republican",
  "party_changes": [],
  "how": "elected",
  "start_date": "2021-01-03",
  "end_date": "2023-01-03",
  "scheduled_end_date": "2023-01-03",
  "end_reason": "term_ended",
  "dates_basis": "statutory",
  "election_date": "2020-11-03",
  "contest_id": 109060,
  "district_ocd_id": "ocd-division/country:us/state:ca/cd:1/plan:2020",
  "district_id": 89089,
  "source": {
    "kind": "results",
    "name": "Federal Election Commission, Federal Elections 2020 (official results)",
    "url": "https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2020.xlsx",
    "license": null,
    "retrieved_on": null
  },
  "updated_at": "2026-11-14T03:18:48.42618+00:00"
}

Sample (CSV)

The same records as the JSON sample, as GET /v1/office-terms?format=csv returns them. Download: CSV, JSON.

term_id,office,office_name,state,name,person_key,candidate_id,bioguide_id,openstates_person_id,party,how,start_date,end_date,scheduled_end_date,end_reason,dates_basis,election_date,contest_id,district_ocd_id,district_id,source_kind,source_name,source_url,license,updated_at
1,us-house-ca-1,"U.S. Representative, California Congressional District 1",CA,Doug LaMalfa,name:ca:lamalfa-doug,73171,,,Republican,elected,2021-01-03,2023-01-03,2023-01-03,term_ended,statutory,2020-11-03,109060,ocd-division/country:us/state:ca/cd:1/plan:2020,89089,results,"Federal Election Commission, Federal Elections 2020 (official results)",https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2020.xlsx,,2026-11-14T03:18:48.42618+00:00
3,us-house-ca-2,"U.S. Representative, California Congressional District 2",CA,Jared Huffman,bioguide:H001068,72,H001068,,Democratic,elected,2021-01-03,2023-01-03,2023-01-03,term_ended,statutory,2020-11-03,109036,ocd-division/country:us/state:ca/cd:2/plan:2020,89090,results,"Federal Election Commission, Federal Elections 2020 (official results)",https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2020.xlsx,,2026-11-14T03:18:48.42618+00:00