Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Dark Horse Candidate (“Platform,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website at darkhorsecandidate.com. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information when you use the Platform.

Dark Horse Candidate is a for-profit commercial platform that facilitates conditional political contributions. We are not a political action committee, political party, or campaign committee.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

When you create an account or make a pledge, we collect:

• Identity information: Full legal name
• Contact information: Email address, mailing address (street, city, state, ZIP code)
• Employment information: Employer name, occupation
• Financial information: Payment card details (processed and stored by Stripe; Dark Horse Candidate does not store card numbers)
• Attestation records: Citizenship attestation, own-funds attestation (including timestamps and text versions)
• Pledge information: Pledge amounts, campaign selections, tip amounts, redirect preferences

This information is required by federal election law (52 U.S.C. 30104(b)(3)(A)) for political contributions.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you use the Platform, we automatically collect:

• Device information: Browser type, operating system, device type
• Usage information: Pages visited, time spent, referral source
• Network information: IP address

We use standard web analytics to understand Platform usage. We do not use tracking pixels, social media trackers, or cross-site advertising cookies.

2.3 Information from Third Parties

We receive transaction confirmation and payment status information from Stripe, our payment processor.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Process pledges and contributions: Create and manage your account, process payments, send transaction receipts and notifications
• Comply with federal election law: Collect and transmit donor information required by the Federal Election Campaign Act
• Verify eligibility: Confirm U.S. citizenship/residency and contribution source attestations
• Enforce contribution limits: Track aggregate contributions per candidate per election
• Communicate with you: Send pledge confirmations, campaign trigger notifications, expiration notices, and cooling-off period alerts
• Maintain platform security: Detect fraud, prevent abuse, and protect the integrity of the Platform
• Improve the Platform: Analyze usage patterns to improve functionality and user experience

We do not use your information for political targeting or advertising, selling to data brokers or marketing companies, or profiling based on political preferences.

4. How We Share Your Information

4.1 Candidate Campaign Committees

When a campaign is triggered and your pledge is charged, we transmit your contributor information (name, mailing address, employer, occupation, contribution amount, and date) to the recipient candidate's authorized campaign committee. This is required by federal law. Candidate committees use this information for their own FEC filings.

4.2 Payment Processor (Stripe)

We share necessary information with Stripe to process payments, including your name, email, and payment card details. Stripe's privacy policy governs their handling of your data.

4.3 Email Service Provider (Resend)

We share your email address and name with Resend to deliver transactional emails (pledge confirmations, charge receipts, campaign notifications). Resend processes this data solely to deliver emails on our behalf.

4.4 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information when required by law, including subpoenas, court orders, requests from the Federal Election Commission, requests from law enforcement agencies, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Dark Horse Candidate, our users, or the public.

4.5 No Sale of Personal Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing, advertising, or any other commercial purpose.

5. Public Disclosure of Contribution Information

5.1 FEC Reporting

Federal law requires public disclosure of contributor information (name, mailing address, employer, occupation) for contributions exceeding $200 in aggregate per calendar year to a single candidate committee. This disclosure is made by the recipient candidate committee through FEC filings, which are publicly available at fec.gov.

5.2 Your Acknowledgment

By making a pledge on Dark Horse Candidate, you acknowledge that your contribution information will be provided to the recipient candidate committee, the candidate committee may be required to publicly disclose your information in FEC filings, and FEC filings are public records accessible to anyone.

5.3 Platform Visibility

Campaign pages display aggregate statistics (total pledged, number of backers). Individual pledger identities are not publicly displayed on the Platform.

6. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information:

• Encryption in transit: All data is encrypted via TLS/HTTPS
• Encryption at rest: Database hosted on Supabase with encryption at rest
• Access controls: Row-level security on database tables; administrative access restricted to authorized personnel
• Payment security: Card details handled entirely by Stripe (PCI DSS Level 1 certified); Dark Horse Candidate never stores card numbers

No system is perfectly secure. We will notify you promptly if we become aware of a security breach affecting your personal information.

7. Data Retention

We retain your information as follows:

• Account information: Retained for the life of your account plus 3 years after account closure
• Pledge and transaction records: Retained for at least 5 years after the transaction for tax and regulatory compliance
• Attestation records: Retained for at least 5 years for compliance audit purposes
• Automatically collected data: Retained for 12 months

8. Your Rights

You may access and update your account information at any time by logging in and visiting the Account page. You may request account deletion by contacting us at support@darkhorsecandidate.com. Upon deletion, active pledges will be cancelled and legally required records will be retained for the applicable retention period.

You may request a copy of your personal data by contacting us. You may not opt out of transactional emails related to your pledges and contributions, as these are legally required.

9. State-Specific Rights

California residents have additional rights under the CCPA/CPRA, including the right to know what personal information we collect and the right to delete. We do not sell personal information. Residents of other states with consumer privacy laws (Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, etc.) may have similar rights. Contact us at support@darkhorsecandidate.com to exercise any applicable rights.

10. Children's Privacy

The Platform is not intended for use by anyone under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy at any time. Material changes will be communicated via email to registered users and posted on the Platform. Your continued use of the Platform after changes constitutes acceptance.

12. Contact

For questions about this Privacy Policy or to exercise your privacy rights, contact:
Dark Horse Candidate
Email: support@darkhorsecandidate.com