# Tim Carpenter

Tim Carpenter is a Democratic member of the Wisconsin Senate for district 3.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Wisconsin Senate, district 3
- Serving since: 2003-01-03
- Current term: WI 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/5afcecdf-8000-4e54-bcf2-329f919ed0bd

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/5afcecdf-8000-4e54-bcf2-329f919ed0bd (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Carpenter sits at −0.40 on the CSIP scale, more conservative than 83% of State Senate Democrats.

## What Carpenter says (WI 2025–26 session)

18 classified statements: 18 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Carpenter | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 16.7% | 2.4% | 12 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 16.7% | 10.3% | 80 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 77.8% | 42.9% | 5 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 16.7% | 3.4% | 6 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 0.0% | 16.1% | 321 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Government Operations and Politics 29% (State Senate Democrats 14%); Armed Forces and National Security 21% (State Senate Democrats 3.5%); Immigration 21% (State Senate Democrats 4.2%); Economics and Public Finance 14% (State Senate Democrats 10%); Health 14% (State Senate Democrats 17%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.40 (standard error 0.03), from 336 donors and 581 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 83% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (WI 2025–26 session)

191 roll calls. Attendance 100% (Wisconsin Senate 99.8%). Party unity 98.3% (97.3%). 10 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-03-17 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · AB 911 Relating to: funding for a battery collection and recycling program and making an appropriation. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB911/
- 2026-03-17 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · AB 454 Relating to: a workforce home loan program. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB454/
- 2026-03-17 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · AB 182 Relating to: changes to the low-income housing tax credit. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB182/
- 2026-03-17 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · AB 604 Relating to: coverage under the Medical Assistance program for incarcerated individuals. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB604/
- 2026-03-17 · voted nay · CONCURRENCE · AB 248 Relating to: vacancies in appointive state offices. · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB248/
- 2026-03-17 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · AB 884 Relating to: who may purchase certain contractual services and technical changes to tax provisions related to qualified retirement plans and the film… · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB884/
- 2026-03-17 · voted nay · CONCURRENCE · AB 595 Relating to: compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act, voter registration data sharing agreements, removing ineligible voters from the… · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB595/
- 2026-03-17 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · AB 373 Relating to: creating a refundable individual income tax credit for the parent of a stillbirth and making an appropriation. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB373/
- 2026-03-17 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · AB 685 Relating to: individual income tax subtraction for certain theft losses. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB685/
- 2026-03-17 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · AB 650 Relating to: funding for identity verification under the unemployment insurance law and making an appropriation. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB650/

## Legislation (WI 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 291 bills: 291 reached committee, 17 passed one chamber, 7 passed both, 7 became law. Cosponsored 0. 10.3% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Wisconsin Senate 42.9%; rank 28 of 33).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SB 1171: Relating to: prohibiting retail dynamic price gouging of consumer goods and providing a penalty. (in committee, 2026-06-01) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1171/
- SB 1151: Relating to: general equalization aids, the reimbursement rate for special education costs, excluding special education reimbursement from certain per pupil… (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1151/
- SB 1170: Relating to: prohibitions on postemployment nonsolicitation clauses in employment contracts. (in committee, 2026-03-30) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1170/
- SB 1123: Relating to: a state minimum wage, allowing the enactment of local minimum wage ordinances, and granting rule-making authority. (FE) (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1123/
- SB 1184: Relating to: creating a journalism fellowship program in the University of Wisconsin System and making an appropriation. (FE) (in committee, 2026-04-24) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1184/
- SB 1152: Relating to: requirements for granting a certificate for certain electric facilities and use of environmental trust bonds to finance the costs of retiring… (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1152/
- SB 1140: Relating to: algorithmic pricing of essential consumer goods, granting rule-making authority, and providing a penalty. (in committee, 2026-03-30) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1140/
- SB 1149: Relating to: prescription drug cost reporting by manufacturers, making an appropriation, and providing a penalty. (FE) (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1149/
- SB 1181: Relating to: residency requirements for certain employees of a local governmental unit. (FE) (in committee, 2026-04-08) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1181/
- SB 1117: Relating to: entering into an agreement among the states to elect the president and vice president of the United States by means of a national popular vote. (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1117/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $44.9K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 98% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-08-24 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2091709995503005905
- 2026-08-24 · Post on X · labels: personal attacks, policy discussion · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2091956475946020969
- 2026-08-24 · Post on X · labels: personal attacks, policy discussion · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2091956478219374795
- 2026-07-22 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2079983080534630774
- 2026-07-22 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2079983081927180610
- 2026-07-21 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2079647191069560908
- 2026-07-21 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2079647353137504498
- 2026-06-30 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2071981893982028061
- 2026-06-30 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2071981896330854625
- 2026-06-30 · Post on X · https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE/status/2071981898121859416

## Links

- Official site: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/legislators/senate/2413
- Campaign site: https://www.votetimcarpenter.com/
- X: https://x.com/TimCarpenterMKE
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.carpenter.77398

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/5afcecdf-8000-4e54-bcf2-329f919ed0bd