Credit claiming
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
May 29, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy discussion; credit claiming; Health · Source
100%
of itemized money from Kansas donors, in the top quarter of State Senate Democrats
100% of the itemized money from individuals in the 2026 cycle came from donors with an address in Kansas. Ranks 73rd of 714, where 1st is the highest share. 9 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 Kansas, ranked among State Senate 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
4 measures against State Senate Democrats. 2.2% of the 45 bills Sykes sponsored got out of committee, in the bottom quarter of the Kansas Senate. Sykes reported $19.1K in the 2026 cycle, in the bottom half of State Senate Democrats (median $55.5K).
The measures on which Sykes 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.
From Kansas, 2026
100%
Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 73rd of 714 State Senate Democrats
Out of committee
2.2%
Kansas Senate average 18% · ranks 34th of 40
Itemized, 2026
$19.1K
State Senate Democrats’ median $55.5K · ranks 540th of 746
CSIP ideology
−0.66
More liberal than 52% of State Senate Democrats · ± 0.05
Statements
32
32 posts on X
Bills sponsored
45
and 0 cosponsored
Peer group: State Senate Democrats. Rank 1 is the highest value in the group; the thick bar is Sykes, the thin grey bar the peer average. The headline is the measure on which Sykes is most unusual among peers (Methods, §08).
What Sykes says
Sykes attacks opponents personally less than 75% of State Senate Democrats. Personal attacks in 0% of 32 statements, against 2.4% for the average State Senate Democrat; 248th of 329.
An AI model reads each of Sykes’s 32 statements in the KS 2025–26 session (32 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 Senate Democrats and ranked among them.
Kinds of statement
Share of statements carrying each label, the KS 2025–26 session
0%80%
Sykes
Peers
Rank
Policy discussion16 statements
50%
43%
137th of 329
Credit claiming6 statements
19%
16%
127th of 329
Policy criticism4 statements
13%
10%
107th of 329
Bipartisanship1 statements
3%
3%
139th of 329
Personal attacks0 statements
0%
2%
248th of 329
Show the data
| Row | Sykes | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Policy discussion | 50% | 43% |
| Credit claiming | 19% | 16% |
| Policy criticism | 13% | 10% |
| Bipartisanship | 3% | 3% |
| Personal attacks | 0% | 2% |
32
statements classified
32 posts on X.
Show the data
| Part | Value |
|---|---|
| posts on X | 32 |
How to read the bars
The thick bar is Sykes; the thin grey bar is the average State Senate Democrats. A longer thick bar means Sykes does this more than peers. Rank 1 is the highest rate in the group.
Extreme labels
Sykes used no extreme labels in 32 statements. The peer average is 0.8%.
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 KS 2025–26 session
Show the data
| Column | Statements | Personal attacks | Policy criticism | Policy discussion | Bipartisanship | Credit claiming | Extreme labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan ’25 | 10 | 0.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 10.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% |
| 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 | 9 | — (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 | 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) |
| May ’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) |
| 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 | 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) |
| Aug ’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) |
| Sep ’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) |
| 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 | 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) |
| Jan ’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) |
| Feb ’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) |
| Mar ’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) |
| Apr ’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) |
| May ’26 | 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 ’26 | 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) |
| Jul ’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) |
| Aug ’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) |
| Sep ’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) |
| 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 KS 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%. 21 months are hatched here; 17 of them have no statements.
In Sykes’s words
Real statements from the classifier’s example set, with the labels it assigned
Policy discussion
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Jun 8, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy discussion; Finance and Financial Sector · Source
Policy criticism
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Jun 6, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy criticism; policy discussion; Health · 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.
No statements in this category in this window.
All 32 statements
Newest first, the KS 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: 32 posts on X.
Policy
Health is what Sykes talks about most: 25% of policy statements, above the peer share. Peers give it 17%. 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 Sykes talks about. The bills Sykes sponsors and cosponsors carry the same areas, so the two can be compared.
What Sykes talks about
Share of policy statements by area, the KS 2025–26 session
0%35%
Sykes
Peers
Health4 statements
25%
17%
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues3 statements
19%
8%
Education3 statements
19%
15%
Economics and Public Finance2 statements
13%
10%
Government Operations and Politics2 statements
13%
14%
Show the data
| Row | Sykes | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 25% | 17% |
| Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues | 19% | 8% |
| Education | 19% | 15% |
| Economics and Public Finance | 13% | 10% |
| Government Operations and Politics | 13% | 14% |
How to read the bars
The thick bar is the share of Sykes’s policy statements in an area; the thin grey bar is the average share for State Senate 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 35%. Grey ticks are the State Senate Democrats averages.
Show the data
| Area | Talks about | State Senate Democrats, talks about | Legislates on | State Senate Democrats, legislates on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health | 25% | 17% | 12% | 15% |
| Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues | 19% | 8% | 0% | 5% |
| Education | 19% | 15% | 8% | 9% |
| Economics and Public Finance | 13% | 10% | 0% | 3% |
| Government Operations and Politics | 13% | 14% | 4% | 8% |
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 Sykes legislates on exactly the areas Sykes 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 Sykes sponsored count fully, cosponsored bills a quarter. Shown with at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills.
Ideology
Sykes sits at −0.66 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more liberal than 52% of State Senate Democrats. Approximate range −0.71 to −0.61, which understates the uncertainty; from 799 donors and 589 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”.
−0.66
CSIP ideal point
Approximate range −0.71 to −0.61. From 799 donors and 589 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.
The outlined dot is Sykes, 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 Sykes’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 Sykes sits
Every official in each group, on the CSIP scale
State Senate Democrats825 · median −0.7
Kansas Senate39 · median +0.2
All State Senate1,909 · median +0.1
Show the data
| Group | Officials | Median | Share left of Sykes |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Senate Democrats | 825 | −0.7 | 48% |
| Kansas Senate | 39 | +0.2 | 0% |
| All State Senate | 1909 | +0.1 | 21% |
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 Sykes 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 Sykes.
Money
Sykes reported $19.1K in the 2026 cycle, 34% of the State Senate Democrats’ median of $55.5K. State filings report no small-donation total. 100% of itemized individual money came from Kansas.
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.
$19.1K
itemized in the 2026 cycle
From 9 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)6 squares$1,230
- PACs and other committees94 squares$17.9K
Show the data
| Source | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals (itemized) | $1,230 | 6.4% |
| PACs and other committees | $17.9K | 93.6% |
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 | $138.9K |
| 2022 cycle | $18.5K |
| 2024 cycle | $98.3K |
| 2026 cycle | $19.1K |
Top donor states, 2026
Itemized contributions by donor state. 100% came from Kansas.
- Kansas$1,230
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 |
|---|---|
| Kansas | $1,230 |
| Alaska | No data |
| Maine | No data |
| Vermont | No data |
| New Hampshire | No data |
| Washington | 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 |
| Massachusetts | 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 |
| California | No data |
| Utah | No data |
| Colorado | No data |
| Nebraska | No data |
| Missouri | No data |
| Kentucky | No data |
| West Virginia | No data |
| Virginia | No data |
| Maryland | No data |
| Delaware | No data |
| Arizona | No data |
| New Mexico | 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 |
| Florida | No data |
9
itemized donors
People who gave more than $200
100%
from Kansas
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 Kansas. Gifts of $200 or less carry no address and are left out.
Top donor occupations
Itemized, 2026 cycle.
- NOT EMPLOYED$440 5 donors
Top committees
PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.
- KANSAS ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANT PAC$2,000
- KANSAS OPTOMETRIC PAC$2,000
- KANSAS STATE FARM INSURANCE AGENTS & EMPLOYEES PAC$1,000
- KANSANS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION PAC$1,000
- KANSAS ASSOCIATION OF NURSE ANESTHETISTS CRNA PAC$1,000
Top employers
Itemized, 2026 cycle.
No employers reported.
Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.
Votes
No roll-call votes for the KS 2025–26 session.No roll-call votes are recorded for this official in this time window.
Legislation
Sykes sponsored 45 bills in the KS 2025–26 session; none became law. Cosponsored 0 others. 2.2% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Kansas Senate average 18%; 34th of 40).
The bills Sykes sponsored and cosponsored in the KS 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 KS 2025–26 session
Show the data
| Role | Introduced | In committee | Passed one chamber | Passed both chambers | Became law |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsored | 45 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Cosponsored | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
How to read the blocks
Ink blocks are bills Sykes sponsored, ochre blocks bills Sykes cosponsored; the figure above each block is the count. Most bills in any legislature never leave committee, so a short staircase is the norm.
2.2%
of sponsored bills got out of committee
Kansas Senate average 18%. Ranks 34th of 40.
Cosponsorship partners
Colleagues who most often cosponsor with Sykes, by number of shared bills in the KS 2025–26 session; the square shows their party.
- Chase Blasi13
- Pat Pettey13
- Cindy Holscher11
- Ty Masterson10
- Ethan Corson10
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 Sykes’s bills; the toggle shows more.
Bill list
Sponsored and cosponsored, with status and policy area; five are shown, the toggle shows the rest
| SCR 1626 | Providing for the adjournment sine die of the 2026 regular session of the Legislature. | Sponsor | Apr 10, 2026 | Introduced | Unassigned | Introduced Apr 10, 2026 |
| SR 1736 | Strengthening the sister-state relations between the State of Kansas and Taiwan. | Sponsor | Mar 26, 2026 | Introduced | International Affairs(model) | Introduced Mar 26, 2026 |
| SCR 1622 | Providing for the adjournment of the senate and the house of representatives for a period of time during the 2026 regular session of the legislature. | Sponsor | Feb 18, 2026 | Introduced | Unassigned | Enrolled and presented to Secretary of State on Thursday, February 26, 2026 Feb 26, 2026 |
| SB 474 | Enacting the Kansas short-term, limited duration insurance act; establishing definitions, disclosure, premiums, renewal and underwriting requirements relating thereto and authorizing the commissioner of insurance to adopt rules and regulations to implement and oversee the act. | Sponsor | Feb 4, 2026 | In committee | Finance and Financial Sector(model) | Died in Committee Apr 10, 2026 |
| SB 443 | Requiring cause for evictions from residential property, modifying the petition and notice requirements for eviction cases and removing the requirement to post bond before the court may grant a continuance. | Sponsor | Feb 2, 2026 | In committee | Housing and Community Development(model) | Died in Committee Apr 10, 2026 |
Online
A site that has not changed in 90 days. Sykes’s official site had 0 pages when last crawled.
The lab crawls Sykes’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 Sykes posts with a vision model.
Websites
- 0
pages crawled
0changes in 90 days
- 5
pages crawled
5changes 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 Sykes posted
No images from Sykes’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 Sykes 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
- 549c712e-1cc1-4ca7-9ef7-b09bb36d7229
- Open States
- ocd-person/549c712e-1cc1-4ca7-9ef7-b09bb36d7229
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