CSIP score −1.04 (approximate range −1.09 to −0.98, which understates the uncertainty); negative is left of the scale’s centre, positive right. From 571 donors and no 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 Friedman sits among State Senate Democrats, not how far from the centre.
At a glance
4 measures against State Senate Democrats. 4.2% of the 71 bills Friedman sponsored got out of committee, in the top quarter of the Massachusetts Senate. 90% of Friedman’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from Massachusetts, in the bottom half of State Senate Democrats.
The measures on which Friedman sits furthest from the middle of State Senate Democrats, each against the same group, with the CSIP score when there is one. Every number is explained in its own section below.
CSIP ideology
More liberal than 91% of State Senate Democrats · ± 0.05
Out of committee
Massachusetts Senate average 2.0% · ranks 5th of 40
From Massachusetts, 2026
Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 450th of 714 State Senate Democrats
Itemized, 2026
State Senate Democrats’ median $55.5K · ranks 423rd of 746
Statements
Bills sponsored
and 60 cosponsored
Peer group: State Senate Democrats. Rank 1 is the highest value in the group; the thick bar is Friedman, the thin grey bar the peer average. The headline is the measure on which Friedman is most unusual among peers (Methods, §08).
What Friedman says
No statements for the MA 2025–26 session.No classified statements (posts, press releases, newsletters, floor speeches) in this time window.
Policy
No policy statements for the MA 2025–26 session.No classified statements (posts, press releases, newsletters, floor speeches) in this time window.
Ideology
Friedman sits at −1.04 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more liberal than 91% of State Senate Democrats. Approximate range −1.09 to −0.98, which understates the uncertainty; from 571 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 −1.09 to −0.98. From 571 donors and no roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.
The outlined dot is Friedman, 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 Friedman’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 Friedman sits
Every official in each group, on the CSIP scale
Show the data
| Group | Officials | Median | Share left of Friedman |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Senate Democrats | 825 | −0.7 | 9% |
| Massachusetts Senate | 39 | −0.7 | 8% |
| All State Senate | 1909 | +0.1 | 4% |
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 Friedman 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 Friedman.
Money
Friedman reported $40.1K in the 2026 cycle, below the State Senate Democrats’ median of $55.5K. State filings report no small-donation total. 90% of itemized individual money came from Massachusetts.
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 117 itemized donors. State Senate Democrats’ median $55.5K.
Where the money came from
Each square is one percent of itemized contributions in the 2026 cycle.
- Individuals (itemized)80 squares$32.2K
- PACs and other committees20 squares$7,900
Show the data
| Source | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals (itemized) | $32.2K | 80.3% |
| PACs and other committees | $7,900 | 19.7% |
What this means, and what it doesn’t
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.
Receipts by cycle
Itemized contributions, 2020 to 2026. The grey line is the State Senate Democrats’ median for 2026.
Show the data
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2020 cycle | $56.8K |
| 2022 cycle | $41.9K |
| 2024 cycle | $61.1K |
| 2026 cycle | $40.1K |
Top donor states, 2026
Itemized contributions by donor state. 90% came from Massachusetts.
- Massachusetts$28.9K
- Maryland$2,000
- Florida$500
- Illinois$250
- California$200
Small donations
State filings report no total for small gifts.
Not reported in state filings.
Where itemized donors live
Individuals who gave more than $200, by donor state
Show the data
| State | Value |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts | $28.9K |
| Maryland | $2,000 |
| Florida | $500 |
| Illinois | $250 |
| New Hampshire | $200 |
| New York | $200 |
| California | $200 |
| Tennessee | $100 |
| Alabama | $100 |
| Alaska | No data |
| Maine | No data |
| Vermont | No data |
| Washington | No data |
| Idaho | No data |
| Montana | No data |
| North Dakota | No data |
| Minnesota | No data |
| Wisconsin | No data |
| Michigan | No data |
| Rhode Island | No data |
| Oregon | No data |
| Nevada | No data |
| Wyoming | No data |
| South Dakota | No data |
| Iowa | No data |
| Indiana | No data |
| Ohio | No data |
| Pennsylvania | No data |
| New Jersey | No data |
| Connecticut | No data |
| Utah | No data |
| Colorado | No data |
| Nebraska | No data |
| Missouri | No data |
| Kentucky | No data |
| West Virginia | No data |
| Virginia | No data |
| Delaware | No data |
| Arizona | No data |
| New Mexico | No data |
| Kansas | No data |
| Arkansas | No data |
| North Carolina | No data |
| South Carolina | No data |
| District of Columbia | No data |
| Oklahoma | No data |
| Louisiana | No data |
| Mississippi | No data |
| Georgia | No data |
| Hawaii | No data |
| Texas | No data |
itemized donors
People who gave more than $200
from Massachusetts
Of itemized individual dollars
How to read the map
Every state the same size. Darker states gave more itemized money; hatched states had no itemized donors; the outlined state is Massachusetts. Gifts of $200 or less carry no address and are left out.
Top donor occupations
Itemized, 2026 cycle.
- PODIATRIST$3,750 12 donors
- ATTORNEY$3,100 12 donors
- EXECUTIVE$3,000 4 donors
- CEO$1,900 4 donors
- NOT EMPLOYED$1,850 8 donors
Top committees
PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.
- 1199 SEIU - MA PAC$500
- 1199 SEIU MA PAC$500
- CROSS AND SHIELD$500
- MA & NO. NE LABORER'S DISTRICT COUNCIL$500
- MA DENTAL SOCIETY$500
Top employers
Itemized, 2026 cycle.
- SMITH COSTELLO & CRAWFORD$1,200 6 donors
- BULFINCH STRATEGIES GROUP$800 3 donors
- ISSUES MANAGEMENT GROUP$800 4 donors
Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.
Votes
No roll-call votes for the MA 2025–26 session.No roll-call votes are recorded for this official in this time window.
Legislation
Friedman sponsored 71 bills in the MA 2025–26 session; 1 became law. Cosponsored 60 others. 4.2% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Massachusetts Senate average 2.0%; 5th of 40).
The bills Friedman sponsored and cosponsored in the MA 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 MA 2025–26 session
Show the data
| Role | Introduced | In committee | Passed one chamber | Passed both chambers | Became law |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsored | 71 | 65 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Cosponsored | 60 | 57 | 13 | 13 | 11 |
How to read the blocks
Ink blocks are bills Friedman sponsored, ochre blocks bills Friedman 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
Massachusetts Senate average 2.0%. Ranks 5th of 40.
Cosponsorship partners
Colleagues who most often cosponsor with Friedman, by number of shared bills in the MA 2025–26 session; the square shows their party.
- Jo Comerford40
- Jamie Eldridge33
- Becca Rausch27
- John Keenan26
- Sal DiDomenico23
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 Friedman’s bills; the toggle shows more.
Bill list
Sponsored and cosponsored, with status and policy area; five are shown, the toggle shows the rest
| H 5685 | An Act establishing a sick leave bank for Carry Shulock-Sexton, an employee of the department of agricultural resources | Cosponsor | Oct 15, 2026 | Passed both chambers | Labor and Employment(model) | Enacted and laid before the Governor Oct 22, 2026 |
| HD 6355 | An Act establishing a sick leave bank for Carry Shulock-Sexton, an employee of the department of agricultural resources | Cosponsor | Sep 28, 2026 | In committee | Labor and Employment(model) | Reported, referred to the committee on Joint Rules, reported, rules suspended and referred to the committee on Public Service Oct 1, 2026 |
| H 5681 | An Act relative to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority red line extension | Cosponsor | Sep 17, 2026 | In committee | Transportation and Public Works(model) | Senate concurred Sep 28, 2026 |
| H 5673 | An Act to increase the number of all alcohol licenses for restaurants in the town of Arlington | Cosponsor | Sep 17, 2026 | In committee | Commerce(model) | Hearing scheduled for 10/26/2026 from 09:00 AM-05:00 PM in Written Testimony Only Oct 16, 2026 |
| HD 6313 | An Act relative to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority red line extension | Cosponsor | Sep 17, 2026 | In committee | Transportation and Public Works(model) | Reported, referred to the committee on Joint Rules, reported, rules suspended and referred to the committee on Transportation Sep 24, 2026 |
Online
A site that changed 2 times in 90 days. Friedman’s official site had 1 page when last crawled on Oct 1, 2026.
The lab crawls Friedman’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 Friedman posts with a vision model.
Websites
- 1
pages crawled
2changes in 90 days
- 38
pages crawled
28changes 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.
Social accounts
Images Friedman posted
No images from Friedman’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 Friedman is most unusual among State Senate 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 …”).
Identifiers
- Profile id
- 456b0061-febd-4ff7-8547-42be0685526f
- Open States
- ocd-person/456b0061-febd-4ff7-8547-42be0685526f
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