Policy discussion
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Apr 25, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy discussion; Government Operations and Politics · Source
84%
of State House Democrats score to the left of Manuel on the CSIP scale
CSIP score −0.38 (approximate range −0.48 to −0.28, which understates the uncertainty); negative is left of the scale’s centre, positive right. From 0 donors and 258 roll calls.
CSIP places every official on one left–right scale estimated from roll-call votes, campaign donations and the text of statements; 0 is the centre of the scale, not a definition of moderate. The share says where Manuel sits among State House Democrats, not how far from the centre.
At a glance
4 measures against the Texas House. Manuel missed 11% of 3,700 roll calls, attendance in the bottom quarter of the Texas House (average 93.1%). 61% of the 67 bills Manuel sponsored got out of committee, in the top quarter of the Texas House.
The measures on which Manuel sits furthest from the middle of the Texas House, each against the same group, with the CSIP score when there is one. Every number is explained in its own section below.
CSIP ideology
−0.38
More conservative than 84% of State House Democrats · ± 0.10
Attendance
89%
Texas House average 93.1% · ranks 117th of 143 · 3,700 roll calls
Out of committee
61%
Texas House average 49% · ranks 32nd of 145
Party unity
86%
Texas House average 85% · ranks 91st of 143 · 163 votes against the majority of Texas House Democrats
Statements
78
78 posts on X
Roll calls
3,700
Compared with Texas House
Peer group: Texas House. Rank 1 is the highest value in the group; the thick bar is Manuel, the thin grey bar the peer average. The headline is the measure on which Manuel is most unusual among peers (Methods, §08).
What Manuel says
Manuel stresses bipartisanship less than 88% of State House Democrats. Bipartisanship in 0% of 78 statements, against 2.9% for the average State House Democrat; 676th of 764.
An AI model reads each of Manuel’s 78 statements in the TX 2025–26 session (78 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.
Kinds of statement
Share of statements carrying each label, the TX 2025–26 session
0%80%
Manuel
Peers
Rank
Policy discussion8 statements
10%
39%
703rd of 764
Personal attacks2 statements
3%
3%
225th of 764
Credit claiming2 statements
3%
14%
632nd of 764
Policy criticism1 statements
1%
10%
638th of 764
Bipartisanship0 statements
0%
3%
676th of 764
Show the data
| Row | Manuel | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Policy discussion | 10% | 39% |
| Personal attacks | 3% | 3% |
| Credit claiming | 3% | 14% |
| Policy criticism | 1% | 10% |
| Bipartisanship | 0% | 3% |
78
statements classified
78 posts on X.
Show the data
| Part | Value |
|---|---|
| posts on X | 78 |
How to read the bars
The thick bar is Manuel; the thin grey bar is the average State House Democrats. A longer thick bar means Manuel does this more than peers. Rank 1 is the highest rate in the group.
Extreme labels
Manuel used no extreme labels in 78 statements. The peer average is 1.0%.
No extreme labels in this window.
Who gets the labels
Targets named alongside an extreme label, by number of statements
No targets recorded.
What an extreme label is
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.
Month by month
Share of statements per month, the TX 2025–26 session
Show the data
| Column | Statements | Personal attacks | Policy criticism | Policy discussion | Bipartisanship | Credit claiming | Extreme labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan ’25 | 3 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Feb ’25 | 4 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Mar ’25 | 4 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Apr ’25 | 4 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| May ’25 | 5 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Jun ’25 | 0 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Jul ’25 | 3 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Aug ’25 | 4 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Sep ’25 | 2 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Oct ’25 | 0 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Nov ’25 | 0 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Dec ’25 | 1 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Jan ’26 | 14 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 42.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Feb ’26 | 24 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Mar ’26 | 3 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Apr ’26 | 2 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| May ’26 | 1 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Jun ’26 | 0 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Jul ’26 | 2 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Aug ’26 | 1 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Sep ’26 | 1 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
| Oct ’26 | 0 | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) | — (fewer than 10 statements) |
How to read the strips
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 TX 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%. 20 months are hatched here; 5 of them have no statements.
In Manuel’s words
Real statements from the classifier’s example set, with the labels it assigned
Credit claiming
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
May 16, 2025 · Posts on X (state legislators) · credit claiming · Source
Policy criticism
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
May 29, 2025 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy criticism · Source
Examples by category
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.
All 78 statements
Newest first, the TX 2025–26 session
The full feed
Five statements at a time, newest first; filters apply to the statements loaded so far. Export saves the statements that match. Sources: 78 posts on X.
Policy
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues is what Manuel talks about most: 63% of policy statements, 6.4 times the peer share. Peers give it 9.8%. 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 Manuel talks about. The bills Manuel sponsors and cosponsors carry the same areas, so the two can be compared.
What Manuel talks about
Share of policy statements by area, the TX 2025–26 session
0%69%
Manuel
Peers
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues5 statements
63%
10%
Government Operations and Politics2 statements
25%
15%
Commerce1 statements
13%
3%
Science, Technology, Communications1 statements
13%
3%
Agriculture and Food0 statements
0%
5%
Show the data
| Row | Manuel | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues | 63% | 10% |
| Government Operations and Politics | 25% | 15% |
| Commerce | 13% | 3% |
| Science, Technology, Communications | 13% | 3% |
| Agriculture and Food | 0% | 5% |
How to read the bars
The thick bar is the share of Manuel’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.
Talks about · legislates on
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 69%. Grey ticks are the State House Democrats averages.
Show the data
| Area | Talks about | State House Democrats, talks about | Legislates on | State House Democrats, legislates on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues | 63% | 10% | 0% | 4% |
| Government Operations and Politics | 25% | 15% | 9% | 8% |
| Commerce | 13% | 3% | 3% | 4% |
| Science, Technology, Communications | 13% | 3% | 0% | 1% |
| Agriculture and Food | 0% | 5% | 4% | 3% |
No agreement score.Needs at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills in the window.
What agreement means, and what it doesn’t
Agreement is 1 minus the distance between the two distributions (Jensen–Shannon): 1 means Manuel legislates on exactly the areas Manuel 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 Manuel sponsored count fully, cosponsored bills a quarter. Shown with at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills.
Ideology
Manuel sits at −0.38 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more conservative than 84% of State House Democrats. Approximate range −0.48 to −0.28, which understates the uncertainty; from 0 donors and 258 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”.
−0.38
CSIP ideal point
Approximate range −0.48 to −0.28. From 0 donors and 258 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.
The outlined dot is Manuel, 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 Manuel’s groups. 0 is the centre of the scale, not “moderate” by definition.
What this means, and what it doesn’t
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.
Where Manuel sits
Every official in each group, on the CSIP scale
State House Democrats2,392 · median −0.6
Texas House148 · median +0.3
All State House5,324 · median +0.1
Show the data
| Group | Officials | Median | Share left of Manuel |
|---|---|---|---|
| State House Democrats | 2392 | −0.6 | 84% |
| Texas House | 148 | +0.3 | 30% |
| All State House | 5324 | +0.1 | 38% |
How to read the strips
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 Manuel 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 Manuel.
Money
No campaign-finance data.No campaign-finance records are matched to this official.
Votes
Manuel voted with the majority of Texas House Democrats on 86% of party-line votes and missed 11% of 3,700 roll calls. Texas House on average: 85% party unity, 93.1% attendance. Across all roll calls, Manuel voted against the majority of Texas House Democrats 163 times.
3,700 roll calls Manuel could vote on in the TX 2025–26 session, compared with Texas House. Attendance is the share with a vote recorded. Party unity counts only party-line roll calls, where most Democrats and most Republicans voted on opposite sides, and is the share of those where Manuel voted with the majority of Texas House Democrats. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.
163
votes against the majority of Texas House Democrats
Party unity 86%, Texas House average 85%, ranks 91st of 143. 3,700 roll calls in the TX 2025–26 session.
Attendance and party unity
The thick bar is Manuel, the thin grey bar the Texas House average. The scale runs from 80% to 100% to show the gap.
80%100%
Manuel
Peers
Rank
Attendance
89%
93.1%
117th of 143
Party unity
86%
85%
91st of 143
Show the data
| Row | Manuel | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance | 89% | 93.1% |
| Party unity | 86% | 85% |
What this means, and what it doesn’t
A missed roll call has many causes, from illness to campaigning, so attendance says how often, not why. A vote against the majority can be on procedure as well as substance, and many fall on roll calls where both parties split; the key votes below show the ones that decided something.
Key votes
25 roll calls the lab flagged as key in the TX 2025–26 session
| Party split (yea–nay) | Why it’s key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 3, 2025 | Yea | With majority | pass | D 44–1 · R 46–37Democrats 44 yea, 1 nay; Republicans 46 yea, 37 nay | became law · party crossover · much discussed | |
| Sep 3, 2025 | Yea | With majority | pass | D 45–0 · R 76–8Democrats 45 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 76 yea, 8 nay | became law · much discussed | |
| Sep 3, 2025 | HB 8 Relating to public school accountability and transparency, including the implementation of an instructionally supportive assessment program and the adoption and administration of assessment instruments in public schools, indicators of achievement, public school performance ratings, and interventions passage | Nay | With majority | pass | D 1–40 · R 78–7Democrats 1 yea, 40 nay; Republicans 78 yea, 7 nay | became law · much discussed |
| Sep 3, 2025 | SB 5 Relating to making supplemental appropriations for disaster relief and preparedness and giving direction and adjustment authority regarding those appropriations. adopt the conference committee report on SB 5. | Yea | With majority | pass | D 43–0 · R 86–0Democrats 43 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 86 yea, 0 nay | became law · much discussed |
| Sep 3, 2025 | HB 8 Relating to public school accountability and transparency, including the implementation of an instructionally supportive assessment program and the adoption and administration of assessment instruments in public schools, indicators of achievement, public school performance ratings, and interventions passage | Yea | With majority | pass | D 45–1 · R 41–41Democrats 45 yea, 1 nay; Republicans 41 yea, 41 nay | became law · party crossover · much discussed |
How key votes are chosen
Automatically: a final-passage or override vote where the measure became law, the margin was under 10%, at least 10% of either party voted against its majority, or the bill was among the 25 most mentioned in officials’ own statements. Up to 25 per window, most recent first; five are shown. Bars show yea on the left, nay on the right, per party.
Votes most often with
The colleagues who voted the same way as Manuel most often
- Mando MartinezD3,175 shared votes95%
- Oscar LongoriaD2,750 shared votes95%
- Claudia OrdazD3,045 shared votes95%
- Suleman LalaniD2,985 shared votes95%
- Hubert VoD2,700 shared votes95%
Votes least often with
The colleagues who voted the same way as Manuel least often
- Briscoe CainR3,147 shared votes50%
- Brian HarrisonR3,189 shared votes50%
- David LoweR3,192 shared votes51%
- Mike OlcottR3,108 shared votes51%
- Steve TothR3,164 shared votes54%
How to read the agreement lists
The share of roll calls both members voted on where they voted the same way, among colleagues sharing at least 50 such votes. High agreement with members of the other party is common on routine votes.
Full voting record
TX 2025–26 session, loads in batches
Legislation
Manuel sponsored 67 bills in the TX 2025–26 session; 16 became law. Cosponsored 52 others. 61% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Texas House average 49%; 32nd of 145).
The bills Manuel sponsored and cosponsored in the TX 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.
Bills by stage
Counts for the TX 2025–26 session
Show the data
| Role | Introduced | In committee | Passed one chamber | Passed both chambers | Became law |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsored | 67 | 67 | 41 | 16 | 16 |
| Cosponsored | 52 | 50 | 36 | 25 | 21 |
How to read the blocks
Ink blocks are bills Manuel sponsored, ochre blocks bills Manuel cosponsored; the figure above each block is the count. Most bills in any legislature never leave committee, so a short staircase is the norm.
61%
of sponsored bills got out of committee
Texas House average 49%. Ranks 32nd of 145.
Cosponsorship partners
Colleagues who most often cosponsor with Manuel, by number of shared bills in the TX 2025–26 session; the square shows their party.
- Mihaela Pleșa11
- Charlene Ward Johnson9
- Suleman Lalani8
- Toni Rose8
- Terri Leo-Wilson7
What this means, and what it doesn’t
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 Manuel’s bills; the toggle shows more.
Bill list
Sponsored and cosponsored, with status and policy area; five are shown, the toggle shows the rest
| HB 308 | Relating to creating the criminal offense of trespass on or near school or day-care center property. | Cosponsor | Aug 28, 2025 | Introduced | Crime and Law Enforcement(model) | Filed Aug 28, 2025 |
| HCR 13 | Urging the federal government to take immediate action to curb the spread of the New World screwworm in Texas. | Cosponsor | Aug 22, 2025 | Became law | Agriculture and Food(model) | Signed by the Governor Sep 17, 2025 |
| HB 226 | Relating to the required provision to campers at youth camps of active radio frequency identification tags. | Cosponsor | Aug 18, 2025 | In committee | Emergency Management(model) | Referred to Public Health Aug 20, 2025 |
| HB 5 | Relating to making supplemental appropriations for disaster relief and giving direction and adjustment authority regarding those appropriations. | Cosponsor | Aug 16, 2025 | In committee | Emergency Management(model) | Laid on the table subject to call Aug 21, 2025 |
| HB 20 | Relating to measures to prevent and reduce fraudulent charitable solicitations and theft during declared disasters, including establishing a designation program for disaster relief nonprofit organizations and financial institutions; creating a criminal offense; increasing a criminal penalty. | Cosponsor | Aug 15, 2025 | Became law | Crime and Law Enforcement(model) | Effective on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sep 17, 2025 |
Online
A site that changed 1 time in 90 days. Manuel’s official site had 1 page when last crawled on Oct 1, 2026.
The lab crawls Manuel’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 Manuel posts with a vision model.
Websites
- 1
pages crawled
1changes in 90 days
- 7
pages crawled
7changes in 90 days
How to read the counts
“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.
Images Manuel posted
No images from Manuel’s posts have been described.
About the descriptions
Written by a vision model and may be wrong. Open the post to see the original. Five are shown; the toggle shows the rest.
State floor speeches
No transcribed state floor speeches are matched to this legislator yet.
Floor speeches
Transcribed from chamber video or captions by the lab. They are not classified for kinds of statement.
Methods and sources
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
The headline is the measure on which Manuel is most unusual among Texas House, 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 …”).
Identifiers
- Profile id
- 26090510-8782-4d64-b981-3d1cde573090
- Open States
- ocd-person/26090510-8782-4d64-b981-3d1cde573090
Bulk files with the same data for every official:
Freshness of this profile’s data
- What politicians sayOct 27, 20261 days agoMembers of Congress: tweets since 2017; press releases, newsletters and floor speeches since 2022. State legislators: tweets since May 2024. Governors: tweets since January 2025. Labels from an LLM classifier.
- Roll calls (state)Oct 21, 20267 days agoOpen States floor roll calls, 2019 on (none for AK and MO).
- Bills (state)Oct 28, 2026todayOpen States bills and sponsors, 2019 on; stages from roll calls.
- Campaign money (state)no dateState campaign-finance agencies, 2019 on; aggregates only.
- Ideology (CSIP)Oct 25, 20263 days agoCommon-Space Ideal Points (CSIP), current validated run.
- WebsitesOct 25, 20263 days agoWeekly crawls of federal sites since April 2026; monthly state crawls since June 2026.
- State floor speechesOct 21, 20267 days agoState floor speech turns (published transcripts and captions), 2020 on; not LLM-classified.
How the measures work
- What politicians say
- Every post, press release, newsletter and congressional floor speech is read by a language model and marked for personal attacks, policy criticism, policy discussion, bipartisanship and credit claiming. A statement can be in several. Rates are shares of statements in the window. The methods paper.
- Extreme labels
- A statement has an extreme label when it calls a politician, party or policy “far left”, “far right”, “MAGA”, “extreme”, “radical”, “woke”, “fascist” or “communist”. The target is who the label is aimed at.
- Policy areas and agreement
- Statements and bills share 25 Congressional Research Service policy areas (state bills are assigned by a language model). Agreement is 1 − Jensen–Shannon distance between the two distributions, shown with at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills.
- Ideology (CSIP)
- Common-Space Ideal Points place federal and state officials on one left–right scale, estimated jointly from roll calls, campaign contributions and the text of statements, with standard errors. Only a validated run is shown. The methods paper.
- Campaign money
- Campaigns report by name only donors who give more than $200 in a cycle; smaller gifts are reported as one total. Federal totals and the small-donor share come from the FEC’s financial summaries of each campaign committee. Donor counts, donor states, employers and occupations cover itemized donors only. State filings report no small-gift totals, so state figures are itemized only. The lab never publishes donor names.
- Votes and key votes
- Attendance, party unity and the count of votes against the majority of an official’s own party come from roll calls (Voteview for Congress, chamber records for the states). Key votes are final-passage or override votes that became law, were decided by under 10%, saw at least 10% of a party vote against its majority, or concerned one of the 25 bills most mentioned in officials’ statements.
- Peers and ranks
- Comparisons are with the same party, chamber and level (for example House Democrats); state legislators are compared within their state and chamber for votes. Every comparison names its group. Rank 1 is the highest value in the group; tied values share the average of their ranks, and the percentile is the share of the group below the value, ties counting half.
America’s Political Pulse · Polarization Research Lab