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Democrat · Maryland House, district 18

Serving since Jan 11, 2023MD 2025–26 session

Portrait of Aaron Kaufman, rendered as a two-tone print
Official portrait
49%
of itemized money from Maryland donors, in the bottom tenth of State House Democrats

49% of the itemized money from individuals in the 2026 cycle came from donors with an address in Maryland. Ranks 1829th of 1,983, where 1st is the highest share. 313 itemized donors.

Only donors who give more than $200 are reported with an address, so this is the share of that itemized money from donors living in Maryland, ranked among State House Democrats. Small gifts are not counted either way. Candidates running statewide or for federal office often draw more money from out of state.

At a glance

6 measures against the Maryland House. Kaufman sits at −0.89 on the CSIP scale, more liberal than 84% of State House Democrats. Kaufman reported $89.5K in the 2026 cycle, in the top half of State House Democrats (median $40.4K).

The measures on which Kaufman sits furthest from the middle of the Maryland House, each against the same group, with the CSIP score when there is one. Every number is explained in its own section below.

Attendance

99.9%

Maryland House average 94.3% · ranks 3rd of 137 · 2,779 roll calls

From Maryland, 2026

49%

Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 1829th of 1,983 State House Democrats

Party unity

100%

Maryland House average 97.0% · ranks 19th of 136 · 0 votes against the majority of Maryland House Democrats

CSIP ideology

−0.89

More liberal than 84% of State House Democrats · ± 0.06

Itemized, 2026

$89.5K

State House Democrats’ median $40.4K · ranks 592nd of 2,082

Out of committee

56%

Maryland House average 49% · ranks 56th of 140

Peer group: Maryland House. Rank 1 is the highest value in the group; the thick bar is Kaufman, the thin grey bar the peer average. The headline is the measure on which Kaufman is most unusual among peers (Methods, §08).

Back to topNext: What politicians say

What Kaufman says

Kaufman talks about policy less than 98% of State House Democrats. Policy discussion in 0% of 1 statements, against 39% for the average State House Democrat; 757th of 765.

An AI model reads each of Kaufman’s 1 statements in the MD 2025–26 session (1 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 MD 2025–26 session

0%80%
Kaufman
Peers
Rank
Personal attacks0 statements
0%
3%
584th of 765
Policy criticism0 statements
0%
10%
717th of 765
Policy discussion0 statements
0%
39%
757th of 765
Bipartisanship0 statements
0%
3%
676th of 765
Credit claiming0 statements
0%
14%
729th of 765
Show the data
Kaufman's share of statements in each category against the State House Democrats average.
RowKaufmanPeers
Personal attacks0%3%
Policy criticism0%10%
Policy discussion0%39%
Bipartisanship0%3%
Credit claiming0%14%
1

statements classified

1 posts on X.

posts on X: 1 (100.0%)posts on X 1
Show the data
Kaufman's statements by source
PartValue
posts on X1
How to read the bars

The thick bar is Kaufman; the thin grey bar is the average State House Democrats. A longer thick bar means Kaufman does this more than peers. Rank 1 is the highest rate in the group.

Extreme labels

Kaufman used no extreme labels in 1 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 MD 2025–26 session

No month in this window has 10 or more statements, too few to chart month by month.

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 MD 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; 21 of them have no statements.

Examples by category

Up to five recent statements in each category

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.

All 1 statements

Newest first, the MD 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: 1 posts on X.

Back to topNext: Policy

Policy

No policy statements for the MD 2025–26 session.No classified statements (posts, press releases, newsletters, floor speeches) in this time window.

Back to topNext: Ideology

Ideology

Kaufman sits at −0.89 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more liberal than 84% of State House Democrats. Approximate range −0.95 to −0.84, which understates the uncertainty; from 481 donors and 600 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”.

−0.89

CSIP ideal point

Approximate range −0.95 to −0.84. From 481 donors and 600 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.

← More liberalMore conservative →0Kaufman −0.9State House Democrats −0.6Maryland House −0.6All State House +0.1

The outlined dot is Kaufman, 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 Kaufman’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 Kaufman sits

Every official in each group, on the CSIP scale

−2.0−1.00.0+1.0+2.0← More liberalMore conservative →State House Democratsmedian −0.6Kaufman −0.9Maryland Housemedian −0.6All State Housemedian +0.1
Show the data
Kaufman's CSIP score of −0.89 placed against State House Democrats, Maryland House, All State House.
GroupOfficialsMedianShare left of Kaufman
State House Democrats2392−0.616%
Maryland House141−0.619%
All State House5324+0.17%
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 Kaufman 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 Kaufman.

Back to topNext: Money

Money

Kaufman reported $89.5K in the 2026 cycle, 2.2 times the State House Democrats’ median of $40.4K. State filings report no small-donation total. 49% of itemized individual money came from Maryland.

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.

Election cycle
$89.5K

itemized in the 2026 cycle

From 313 itemized donors. State House Democrats’ median $40.4K.

Where the money came from

Each square is one percent of itemized contributions in the 2026 cycle.

Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)Individuals (itemized): $88.8K (99.2%)PACs and other committees: $750 (0.8%)
  • Individuals (itemized)99 squares$88.8K
  • PACs and other committees1 squares$750
Show the data
Sources of Kaufman's money, 2026 cycle, one square per percent
SourceAmountShare
Individuals (itemized)$88.8K99.2%
PACs and other committees$7500.8%
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, 2022 to 2026. The grey line is the State House Democrats’ median for 2026.

2022 cycle: $66.3K$66.3K20222024 cycle: $16.8K$16.8K20242026 cycle: $89.5K$89.5K2026State House Democrats median $40.4K
Show the data
Kaufman's receipts by cycle against the 2026 State House Democrats median.
ItemValue
2022 cycle$66.3K
2024 cycle$16.8K
2026 cycle$89.5K

Top donor states, 2026

Itemized contributions by donor state. 49% came from Maryland.

  1. Maryland$43.5K
  2. District of Columbia$18.6K
  3. New York$5,745
  4. Virginia$5,711
  5. Colorado$3,425

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

Alaska: no dataAKMaine: $200MEVermont: no dataVTNew Hampshire: $200NHWashington: no dataWAIdaho: no dataIDMontana: no dataMTNorth Dakota: no dataNDMinnesota: $25MNIllinois: $700ILWisconsin: no dataWIMichigan: $50MINew York: $5,745NYRhode Island: no dataRIMassachusetts: $575MAOregon: no dataORNevada: $1,000NVWyoming: no dataWYSouth Dakota: no dataSDIowa: no dataIAIndiana: no dataINOhio: $493OHPennsylvania: $2,530PANew Jersey: $100NJConnecticut: $1,118CTCalifornia: $2,143CAUtah: $100UTColorado: $3,425CONebraska: no dataNEMissouri: no dataMOKentucky: $50KYWest Virginia: no dataWVVirginia: $5,711VAMaryland: $43.5KMDDelaware: $250DEArizona: no dataAZNew Mexico: $175NMKansas: $100KSArkansas: no dataARTennessee: no dataTNNorth Carolina: $125NCSouth Carolina: no dataSCDistrict of Columbia: $18.6KDCOklahoma: no dataOKLouisiana: no dataLAMississippi: no dataMSAlabama: no dataALGeorgia: $986GAHawaii: $50HITexas: $575TXFlorida: $261FL
Show the data
Kaufman's itemized individual contributions by donor state, 2026 cycle
StateValue
Maryland$43.5K
District of Columbia$18.6K
New York$5,745
Virginia$5,711
Colorado$3,425
Pennsylvania$2,530
California$2,143
Connecticut$1,118
Nevada$1,000
Georgia$986
Illinois$700
Massachusetts$575
Texas$575
Ohio$493
Florida$261
Delaware$250
Maine$200
New Hampshire$200
New Mexico$175
North Carolina$125
New Jersey$100
Utah$100
Kansas$100
Michigan$50
Kentucky$50
Hawaii$50
Minnesota$25
AlaskaNo data
VermontNo data
WashingtonNo data
IdahoNo data
MontanaNo data
North DakotaNo data
WisconsinNo data
Rhode IslandNo data
OregonNo data
WyomingNo data
South DakotaNo data
IowaNo data
IndianaNo data
NebraskaNo data
MissouriNo data
West VirginiaNo data
ArizonaNo data
ArkansasNo data
TennesseeNo data
South CarolinaNo data
OklahomaNo data
LouisianaNo data
MississippiNo data
AlabamaNo data
313

itemized donors

People who gave more than $200

49%

from Maryland

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 Maryland. Gifts of $200 or less carry no address and are left out.

Top donor occupations

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

No occupations reported.

Top committees

PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.

  1. MD REALTORS PAC$500
  2. ENERGIZED FOR CHANGE$250

Top employers

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

No employers reported.

Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.

Back to topNext: Votes

Votes

Kaufman voted with the majority of Maryland House Democrats on 100% of party-line votes and missed 0.1% of 2,779 roll calls. Maryland House on average: 97.0% party unity, 94.3% attendance. Across all roll calls, Kaufman never voted against the majority of Maryland House Democrats.

2,779 roll calls Kaufman could vote on in the MD 2025–26 session, compared with Maryland 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 Kaufman voted with the majority of Maryland House Democrats. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.

0

votes against the majority of Maryland House Democrats

Party unity 100%, Maryland House average 97.0%, ranks 19th of 136. 2,779 roll calls in the MD 2025–26 session.

Attendance and party unity

The thick bar is Kaufman, the thin grey bar the Maryland House average. The scale runs from 80% to 100% to show the gap.

80%100%
Kaufman
Peers
Rank
Attendance
99.9%
94.3%
3rd of 137
Party unity
100%
97.0%
19th of 136
Show the data
Kaufman's attendance and party unity against Maryland House.
RowKaufmanPeers
Attendance99.9%94.3%
Party unity100%97.0%
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 MD 2025–26 session

Key votes
Party split (yea–nay)Why it’s key
Aug 4, 2026
HB 2101
Arbitration Reform for State Employees Act of 2026 - Withdraw and Repeal of Duplicate Proposed Constitutional Amendment
On Third Reading (Emerg)
YeaWith majoritypassD 89–0 · R 0–33Democrats 89 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 0 yea, 33 naybecame law
Aug 4, 2026
HB 2100
Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress
On Third Reading (Const)
YeaWith majoritypassD 95–1 · R 0–36Democrats 95 yea, 1 nay; Republicans 0 yea, 36 naybecame law · much discussed
Aug 3, 2026
HB 2100
Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress
FLA Del. Grammer /423321/1
NayWith majorityfailD 1–94 · R 32–2Democrats 1 yea, 94 nay; Republicans 32 yea, 2 naybecame law · much discussed
Aug 3, 2026
HB 2101
Arbitration Reform for State Employees Act of 2026 - Withdraw and Repeal of Duplicate Proposed Constitutional Amendment
Motion to Suspend Rules from 1st to 2nd Rdg (Emerg)
YeaWith majoritypassD 96–0 · R 1–33Democrats 96 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 1 yea, 33 naybecame law
Aug 3, 2026
HB 2100
Election Districts - General Assembly and Representatives in Congress
Committee Amendments
YeaWith majoritypassD 98–0 · R 0–35Democrats 98 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 0 yea, 35 naybecame law · 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 Kaufman most often

  1. David MoonD2,767 shared votes100%
  2. Joe VogelD2,651 shared votes100%
  3. Julie Palakovich CarrD2,745 shared votes100%
  4. Charlotte CrutchfieldD2,647 shared votes100%
  5. Luke ClippingerD2,735 shared votes100%

Votes least often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Kaufman least often

  1. Robin GrammerR2,419 shared votes43%
  2. Mark FisherR2,732 shared votes51%
  3. Lauren ArikanR2,664 shared votes52%
  4. Kathy SzeligaR2,712 shared votes53%
  5. Ryan NawrockiR2,549 shared votes53%
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

MD 2025–26 session, loads in batches

Back to topNext: Legislation

Legislation

Kaufman sponsored 344 bills in the MD 2025–26 session; 122 became law. Cosponsored 0 others. 56% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Maryland House average 49%; 56th of 140).

The bills Kaufman sponsored and cosponsored in the MD 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 MD 2025–26 session

Sponsored344 billsSponsored, Introduced: 344344Sponsored, In committee: 344344Sponsored, Passed one chamber: 192192Sponsored, Passed both chambers: 128128Sponsored, Became law: 122122Cosponsored0 billsCosponsored, Introduced: 00Cosponsored, In committee: 00Cosponsored, Passed one chamber: 00Cosponsored, Passed both chambers: 00Cosponsored, Became law: 00IntroducedIncommitteePassed onechamberPassed bothchambersBecamelaw
Show the data
Bills Kaufman sponsored and cosponsored, by furthest stage reached
RoleIntroducedIn committeePassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law
Sponsored344344192128122
Cosponsored00000
How to read the blocks

Ink blocks are bills Kaufman sponsored, ochre blocks bills Kaufman cosponsored; the figure above each block is the count. Most bills in any legislature never leave committee, so a short staircase is the norm.

56%

of sponsored bills got out of committee

Maryland House average 49%. Ranks 56th of 140.

Cosponsorship partners

Colleagues who most often cosponsor with Kaufman, by number of shared bills in the MD 2025–26 session; the square shows their party.

  1. Teresa Woorman115
  2. Terri Hill104
  3. Lesley Lopez102
  4. Deni Taveras99
  5. Ashanti Martínez91
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 Kaufman’s bills; the toggle shows more.

Bill list

Sponsored and cosponsored, with status and policy area; five are shown, the toggle shows the rest

Bills sponsored and cosponsored
HB 1629Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programs - Discharge of Patients and Referral Services - StandardsSponsorFeb 25, 2026In committeeHealth(model)First Reading House Rules and Executive Nominations Feb 25, 2026
HB 1625Public Health - Newborn Screening Program - Fees and Core ConditionsSponsorFeb 23, 2026Passed one chamberHealth(model)Hearing 4/01 at 1:00 p.m. Mar 25, 2026
HB 1617Public Health - Health Innovation Zones - EstablishmentSponsorFeb 19, 2026Passed one chamberHealth(model)Hearing 3/31 at 1:00 p.m. Mar 25, 2026
HB 1602Counties - No-Cost Preventive Cancer Screenings for Volunteer and Retired Volunteer FirefightersSponsorFeb 16, 2026Passed one chamberHealth(model)Referred Rules Apr 13, 2026
HB 1593Community Pathways Waiver - Adoption of RegulationsSponsorFeb 15, 2026Passed one chamberHealth(model)Referred Finance Mar 23, 2026

Back to topNext: Online

Online

A site that changed 1 time in 90 days. Kaufman’s official site had 1 page when last crawled on Oct 1, 2026.

The lab crawls Kaufman’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 Kaufman posts with a vision model.

Websites

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 Kaufman posted

No images from Kaufman’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.

Back to topNext: Methods and sources

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 Kaufman is most unusual among Maryland 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
5037901c-64bd-472c-a440-a440841cbb13
Open States
ocd-person/5037901c-64bd-472c-a440-a440841cbb13

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

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