Policy criticism
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Dec 29, 2025 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy criticism; policy discussion; Labor and Employment; Taxation; Economics and Public Finance · Source

0% of 28 sponsored bills got out of committee; the average for the Missouri House is 32%. Ranks 140th of 150, where 1st is the highest share.
The share of bills Burton sponsored that a committee reported out or a chamber passed, ranked within the Missouri House. Members of the majority party and committee chairs move more bills, so the rank reflects position as well as effort.
4 measures against State House Democrats. Burton sits at −0.90 on the CSIP scale, more liberal than 84% of State House Democrats. Burton reported $16.1K in the 2026 cycle, in the bottom half of State House Democrats (median $40.4K).
The measures on which Burton sits furthest from the middle of State House Democrats, each against the same group, with the CSIP score when there is one. Every number is explained in its own section below.
Out of committee
Missouri House average 32% · ranks 140th of 150
CSIP ideology
More liberal than 84% of State House Democrats · ± 0.07
Itemized, 2026
State House Democrats’ median $40.4K · ranks 1442nd of 2,082
From Missouri, 2026
Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 757th of 1,983 State House Democrats
Statements
8 posts on X
Bills sponsored
and 21 cosponsored
Peer group: State House Democrats. Rank 1 is the highest value in the group; the thick bar is Burton, the thin grey bar the peer average. The headline is the measure on which Burton is most unusual among peers (Methods, §08).
Burton claims credit less than 95% of State House Democrats. Credit claiming in 0% of 8 statements, against 14% for the average State House Democrat; 729th of 765.
An AI model reads each of Burton’s 8 statements in the MO 2025–26 session (8 posts on X) and marks the kinds of statement it contains: a personal attack, criticism of a policy, discussion of policy, bipartisanship, credit claiming, and extreme labels. A statement can carry several. Every rate is compared with the average for State House Democrats and ranked among them.
Share of statements carrying each label, the MO 2025–26 session
| Row | Burton | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Policy discussion | 25% | 39% |
| Policy criticism | 13% | 10% |
| Personal attacks | 0% | 3% |
| Bipartisanship | 0% | 3% |
| Credit claiming | 0% | 14% |
statements classified
8 posts on X.
| Part | Value |
|---|---|
| posts on X | 8 |
The thick bar is Burton; the thin grey bar is the average State House Democrats. A longer thick bar means Burton does this more than peers. Rank 1 is the highest rate in the group.
Burton used extreme labels in 13% of statements, 13.0 times the peer average. 1 statement; peers 1.0%.
Targets named alongside an extreme label, by number of statements
No targets recorded.
Calls a politician, a party or a policy “far left”, “far right”, “MAGA”, “extreme”, “radical”, “woke”, “fascist” or “communist”. The target is who or what the label was aimed at. The lists show the five most used labels and targets; the toggle shows the rest.
Share of statements per month, the MO 2025–26 session
No month in this window has 10 or more statements, too few to chart month by month.
Each row is one kind of statement; each cell is a month, shaded against that row’s own peak (darker = closer to the peak), with the peak and the latest value written at the right. The top row counts statements. The strip covers every month of the MO 2025–26 session, the same span as the rates above, including months with no statements. A month with fewer than 10 statements is hatched, not shaded: one or two posts would swing its rate to 0% or 100%. 22 months are hatched here; 16 of them have no statements.
Real statements from the classifier’s example set, with the labels it assigned
Policy criticism
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Dec 29, 2025 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy criticism; policy discussion; Labor and Employment; Taxation; Economics and Public Finance · Source
Policy discussion
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Jan 4, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy discussion; International Affairs · Source
Extreme label
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Jan 23, 2025 · Posts on X (state legislators) · extreme label “MAGA” · Source
Up to five recent statements in each category
Overtly questions a named person’s character, integrity or loyalty, or calls them names. Criticising a record or a policy does not count.
No statements in this category in this window.
Newest first, the MO 2025–26 session
Five statements at a time, newest first; filters apply to the statements loaded so far. Export saves the statements that match. Sources: 8 posts on X.
Economics and Public Finance is what Burton talks about most: 50% of policy statements, 4.7 times the peer share. Peers give it 11%. Agreement with legislation needs at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills.
Each policy statement is tagged by the AI model with one or more of 25 policy areas from the Congressional Research Service list, so the shares say what Burton talks about. The bills Burton sponsors and cosponsors carry the same areas, so the two can be compared.
Share of policy statements by area, the MO 2025–26 session
| Row | Burton | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Economics and Public Finance | 50% | 11% |
| International Affairs | 50% | 1% |
| Labor and Employment | 50% | 6% |
| Taxation | 50% | 4% |
| Agriculture and Food | 0% | 5% |
The thick bar is the share of Burton’s policy statements in an area; the thin grey bar is the average share for State House Democrats. A statement counts once in each of its areas, so shares can add to more than 100%. The five largest areas are shown; the toggle shows the rest.
Left: share of statements by policy area. Right: share of bills. Areas in order of their share of statements; both sides run from 0 to 55%. Grey ticks are the State House Democrats averages.
| Area | Talks about | State House Democrats, talks about | Legislates on | State House Democrats, legislates on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economics and Public Finance | 50% | 11% | 0% | 2% |
| International Affairs | 50% | 1% | 0% | 1% |
| Labor and Employment | 50% | 6% | 7% | 6% |
| Taxation | 50% | 4% | 17% | 7% |
| Agriculture and Food | 0% | 5% | 6% | 3% |
No agreement score.Needs at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills in the window.
Agreement is 1 minus the distance between the two distributions (Jensen–Shannon): 1 means Burton legislates on exactly the areas Burton talks about, in the same proportions; 0 means no overlap. It does not say whether the bills match the positions in the statements, only the subjects. Bills Burton sponsored count fully, cosponsored bills a quarter. Shown with at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills.
Burton sits at −0.90 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more liberal than 84% of State House Democrats. Approximate range −0.98 to −0.83, which understates the uncertainty; from 123 donors and no roll calls.
CSIP, the lab’s Common-Space Ideal Point, places every official, federal and state, on one left–right scale, estimated from roll-call votes, who gives money to whom, and the text of statements. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it; 0 is the centre of the scale, not a definition of “moderate”.
CSIP ideal point
Approximate range −0.98 to −0.83. From 123 donors and no roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.
The outlined dot is Burton, coloured by its side of 0 (blue left, red right, deeper further out); the bar through it is the approximate range (±1.96 standard errors), which understates the uncertainty; the grey ticks below are the medians of Burton’s groups. 0 is the centre of the scale, not “moderate” by definition.
The score summarises how an official votes, who funds them and how they talk, relative to everyone else. It does not grade positions as good or bad, and two officials with the same score can differ on any single issue. The ± range is 1.96 standard errors, which understates the uncertainty: scores whose ranges overlap may not differ at all, and even scores whose ranges do not overlap may not differ.
Every official in each group, on the CSIP scale
| Group | Officials | Median | Share left of Burton |
|---|---|---|---|
| State House Democrats | 2392 | −0.6 | 16% |
| Missouri House | 149 | +0.4 | 4% |
| All State House | 5324 | +0.1 | 7% |
Every small dot is one official on the same scale, coloured by its own score (blue left of 0, red right of 0, grey at 0, deeper further out) and spread up and down only to keep dots apart; where a group is crowded the dots overlap, and darker patches mean more officials. The large outlined dot is Burton in every row; the rule is each group’s median. The table under the figure gives the share of each group to the left of Burton.
Burton reported $16.1K in the 2026 cycle, 40% of the State House Democrats’ median of $40.4K. State filings report no small-donation total. 96% of itemized individual money came from Missouri.
Campaign money from state campaign-finance filings, as aggregates only; the lab never shows an individual donor. Campaigns must report by name every person who gives them more than $200 in a cycle (“itemized”); smaller gifts are reported only as one total (“unitemized”), so donor counts, donor states, employers and occupations describe itemized donors only. State filings report no small-gift total, so these figures add up itemized contributions only.
itemized in the 2026 cycle
From 39 itemized donors. State House Democrats’ median $40.4K.
Each square is one percent of itemized contributions in the 2026 cycle.
| Source | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals (itemized) | $12.4K | 76.7% |
| PACs and other committees | $3,765 | 23.3% |
Totals say how much a campaign took in, not how it was spent, and they rise sharply when a seat is up for election; compare cycles with that in mind.
Itemized contributions, 2020 to 2026. The grey line is the State House Democrats’ median for 2026.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2020 cycle | $13.4K |
| 2022 cycle | $21.6K |
| 2024 cycle | $29.4K |
| 2026 cycle | $16.1K |
Itemized contributions by donor state. 96% came from Missouri.
State filings report no total for small gifts.
Not reported in state filings.
Individuals who gave more than $200, by donor state
| State | Value |
|---|---|
| Missouri | $11.9K |
| Florida | $250 |
| Oregon | $225 |
| Virginia | $15 |
| California | $10 |
| New Jersey | $2 |
| Washington | $1 |
| Massachusetts | $1 |
| Alaska | No data |
| Maine | No data |
| Vermont | No data |
| New Hampshire | No data |
| Idaho | No data |
| Montana | No data |
| North Dakota | No data |
| Minnesota | No data |
| Illinois | No data |
| Wisconsin | No data |
| Michigan | No data |
| New York | No data |
| Rhode Island | No data |
| Nevada | No data |
| Wyoming | No data |
| South Dakota | No data |
| Iowa | No data |
| Indiana | No data |
| Ohio | No data |
| Pennsylvania | No data |
| Connecticut | No data |
| Utah | No data |
| Colorado | No data |
| Nebraska | No data |
| Kentucky | No data |
| West Virginia | No data |
| Maryland | No data |
| Delaware | No data |
| Arizona | No data |
| New Mexico | No data |
| Kansas | No data |
| Arkansas | No data |
| Tennessee | No data |
| North Carolina | No data |
| South Carolina | No data |
| District of Columbia | No data |
| Oklahoma | No data |
| Louisiana | No data |
| Mississippi | No data |
| Alabama | No data |
| Georgia | No data |
| Hawaii | No data |
| Texas | No data |
itemized donors
People who gave more than $200
from Missouri
Of itemized individual dollars
Every state the same size. Darker states gave more itemized money; hatched states had no itemized donors; the outlined state is Missouri. Gifts of $200 or less carry no address and are left out.
Itemized, 2026 cycle.
No occupations reported.
PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.
Itemized, 2026 cycle.
No employers reported.
Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.
No roll-call votes for the MO 2025–26 session.No roll-call votes are recorded for this official in this time window.
Burton sponsored 28 bills in the MO 2025–26 session; none became law. Cosponsored 21 others. 0% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Missouri House average 32%; 140th of 150).
The bills Burton sponsored and cosponsored in the MO 2025–26 session, from the official bill records, and how far each got: introduced, referred to or acted on in committee, passed one chamber, passed both, became law. A bill counts at every stage it has reached, so the blocks only shrink to the right.
Counts for the MO 2025–26 session
| Role | Introduced | In committee | Passed one chamber | Passed both chambers | Became law |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsored | 28 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cosponsored | 21 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Ink blocks are bills Burton sponsored, ochre blocks bills Burton cosponsored; the figure above each block is the count. Most bills in any legislature never leave committee, so a short staircase is the norm.
of sponsored bills got out of committee
Missouri House average 32%. Ranks 140th of 150.
Colleagues who most often cosponsor with Burton, by number of shared bills in the MO 2025–26 session; the square shows their party.
The score is the share of sponsored bills that a committee reported out or a chamber passed, with at least 5 sponsored bills, ranked within the peer group. Members of the majority party and committee chairs move more bills, so the rank reflects position in the chamber as well as effort. Cosponsorship partners are the five colleagues who share the most of Burton’s bills; the toggle shows more.
Sponsored and cosponsored, with status and policy area; five are shown, the toggle shows the rest
| HJR 115 | Proposes a constitutional amendment authorizing a disabled veteran homestead exemption | Cosponsor | Apr 20, 2026 | Passed one chamber | Taxation(model) | Second read and referred: Select Committee on Property Taxes and the State Tax Commission(S) Apr 21, 2026 |
| HB 2292 | Modifies provisions relating to abuse and neglect reporting, including a requirement to report companion animal abuse | Cosponsor | Apr 13, 2026 | Became law | Families(model) | Delivered to Secretary of State (G) Jul 13, 2026 |
| HB 3432 | Changes the amounts for liability insurance and liability limits for tort claims against the state, a political subdivision, or a public entity | Sponsor | Feb 25, 2026 | In committee | Law(model) | Referred: Emerging Issues(H) May 15, 2026 |
| HB 3367 | Designates June twentieth each year as John Goodman day | Sponsor | Feb 19, 2026 | In committee | Unassigned | Referred: Emerging Issues(H) May 15, 2026 |
| HB 3368 | Creates provisions relating to payments for vasectomies | Sponsor | Feb 19, 2026 | In committee | Health(model) | Referred: Emerging Issues(H) May 15, 2026 |
A site that has not changed in 90 days. Burton’s official site had 0 pages when last crawled.
The lab crawls Burton’s official and campaign websites (weekly for Congress, monthly for the states) and keeps every page’s text, so changes can be read later; it also records social accounts and describes the images Burton posts with a vision model.
pages crawled
changes in 90 days
pages crawled
changes in 90 days
“Pages crawled” is the size of the site at the last crawl; “changes in 90 days” counts pages whose text differed from the previous crawl. Sites change for many routine reasons, such as new press releases, so a high count is not by itself notable.
No images from Burton’s posts have been described.
Written by a vision model and may be wrong. Open the post to see the original. Five are shown; the toggle shows the rest.
No transcribed state floor speeches are matched to this legislator yet.
Transcribed from chamber video or captions by the lab. They are not classified for kinds of statement.
How this page was made. Profile built Oct 28, 2026; site last built Oct 28, 2026. Every number on the page is computed from the sources listed here, by the same rules for every official; nothing is written by hand.
The headline is the measure on which Burton is most unusual among State House Democrats, chosen by one rule for every official of every party. The candidates are the rate of each kind of statement and of extreme labels, party unity, attendance, the small-donor share, the in-state share and total receipts of the latest cycle, the share of sponsored bills that got out of committee, talk-to-bills agreement, and the CSIP score’s place within the party group.
The builder ranks every measure within the same peer group the page compares it with, and writes each official’s percentile: the share of the group below the value, ties counting half, so 0.5 is the median and a value shared by many never ranks first. A measure’s score is how far that percentile sits from the median (0 in the middle, 0.5 at either end), and the highest score leads if it is above 0.25, outside the middle half of the group. Scores within 0.03 of each other are a tie, broken in this order: votes against the party majority, kinds of statement, ideology, roll calls missed, small donations, in-state money, legislation, agreement, extreme labels, receipts.
A measure counts only with at least 200 statements, 100 roll calls or 5 sponsored bills behind it and a peer group of at least 10. Two things never lead: high party unity or attendance, where most members sit, and a high rate of a kind of statement backed by fewer than 10 statements. When nothing qualifies, the headline is a neutral fact instead: statements classified, or years in office. The wording always names the direction (“in the bottom 5% of …”, “votes against the majority of …”).
Bulk files with the same data for every official:
America’s Political Pulse · Polarization Research Lab