Credit claiming
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Aug 28, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy discussion; bipartisanship; credit claiming; Crime and Law Enforcement · Source

Party unity 88%, in the bottom tenth of the Tennessee House (average 96.3%). 4,351 roll calls in the TN 2025–26 session.
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 Hemmer voted with the majority of Tennessee House Democrats; it is ranked within the Tennessee House. The count covers every roll call where Hemmer voted opposite that majority.
6 measures against State House Democrats. Hemmer sits at −0.29 on the CSIP scale, more conservative than 92% of State House Democrats. Hemmer missed 3.3% of 4,351 roll calls, attendance in the bottom tenth of the Tennessee House (average 99.1%).
The measures on which Hemmer sits furthest from the middle of State House Democrats, each against the same group, with the CSIP score when there is one. Every number is explained in its own section below.
Party unity
Tennessee House average 96.3% · ranks 90th of 97 · 78 votes against the majority of Tennessee House Democrats
CSIP ideology
More conservative than 92% of State House Democrats · ± 0.03
Attendance
Tennessee House average 99.1% · ranks 92nd of 97 · 4,351 roll calls
Policy criticism
State House Democrats average 10% · ranks 110th of 764
Talk-to-bills agreement
State House Democrats average 0.54 · ranks 389th of 503
Extreme labels
State House Democrats average 1.0% · ranks 216th of 764
Peer group: State House Democrats. Rank 1 is the highest value in the group; the thick bar is Hemmer, the thin grey bar the peer average. The headline is the measure on which Hemmer is most unusual among peers (Methods, §08).
Hemmer criticizes policies more than 85% of State House Democrats. Policy criticism in 21% of 332 statements, against 10% for the average State House Democrat; 110th of 764.
An AI model reads each of Hemmer’s 332 statements in the TN 2025–26 session (332 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.
Share of statements carrying each label, the TN 2025–26 session
| Row | Hemmer | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Policy discussion | 46% | 39% |
| Policy criticism | 21% | 10% |
| Credit claiming | 9% | 14% |
| Bipartisanship | 3% | 3% |
| Personal attacks | 2% | 3% |
statements classified
332 posts on X.
| Part | Value |
|---|---|
| posts on X | 332 |
The thick bar is Hemmer; the thin grey bar is the average State House Democrats. A longer thick bar means Hemmer does this more than peers. Rank 1 is the highest rate in the group.
Hemmer used extreme labels in 0.9% of statements, close to the peer average. 3 statements, most often aimed at MAGA; peers 1.0%.
Targets named alongside an extreme label, by number of statements
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.
Share of statements per month, the TN 2025–26 session
| Column | Statements | Personal attacks | Policy criticism | Policy discussion | Bipartisanship | Credit claiming | Extreme labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan ’25 | 50 | 2.0% | 44.0% | 48.0% | 2.0% | 6.0% | 4.0% |
| Feb ’25 | 11 | 0.0% | 27.3% | 54.5% | 9.1% | 27.3% | 0.0% |
| Mar ’25 | 8 | — (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 | 17 | 5.9% | 23.5% | 52.9% | 0.0% | 17.6% | 0.0% |
| May ’25 | 11 | 0.0% | 9.1% | 54.5% | 0.0% | 9.1% | 0.0% |
| Jun ’25 | 20 | 0.0% | 30.0% | 45.0% | 5.0% | 5.0% | 0.0% |
| Jul ’25 | 33 | 3.0% | 27.3% | 51.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Aug ’25 | 19 | 0.0% | 15.8% | 31.6% | 10.5% | 5.3% | 5.3% |
| Sep ’25 | 16 | 0.0% | 25.0% | 50.0% | 18.8% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Oct ’25 | 7 | — (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 | 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) |
| Dec ’25 | 17 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 47.1% | 0.0% | 5.9% | 0.0% |
| Jan ’26 | 11 | 0.0% | 9.1% | 54.5% | 0.0% | 9.1% | 0.0% |
| Feb ’26 | 12 | 8.3% | 0.0% | 25.0% | 0.0% | 8.3% | 0.0% |
| Mar ’26 | 11 | 0.0% | 9.1% | 36.4% | 18.2% | 27.3% | 0.0% |
| Apr ’26 | 6 | — (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 | 12 | 0.0% | 8.3% | 66.7% | 0.0% | 16.7% | 0.0% |
| Jun ’26 | 16 | 0.0% | 31.3% | 37.5% | 0.0% | 18.8% | 0.0% |
| Jul ’26 | 11 | 0.0% | 9.1% | 54.5% | 0.0% | 9.1% | 0.0% |
| Aug ’26 | 17 | 0.0% | 11.8% | 58.8% | 5.9% | 5.9% | 0.0% |
| Sep ’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) |
| Oct ’26 | 14 | 0.0% | 7.1% | 28.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
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 TN 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%. 5 months are hatched here.
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.
Aug 28, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy discussion; bipartisanship; credit claiming; Crime and Law Enforcement · Source
Policy criticism
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Oct 13, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy criticism; policy discussion; Taxation · Source
Extreme label
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
Aug 6, 2025 · Posts on X (state legislators) · extreme label “MAGA” aimed at MAGA · Source
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.
Posts on X (state legislators)
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
personal attacks · target: AndySource
Posts on X (state legislators)
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
personal attacks · policy discussion · Education · target: Caleb HemmerSource
Posts on X (state legislators)
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
personal attacks · target: Commissioner of EducationSource
Posts on X (state legislators)
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
personal attacks · policy discussion · Government Operations and Politics · target: Gov. LeeSource
Posts on X (state legislators)
The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.
personal attacks · target: voucher griftersSource
Newest first, the TN 2025–26 session
Five statements at a time, newest first; filters apply to the statements loaded so far. Export saves the statements that match. Sources: 332 posts on X.
Education is what Hemmer talks about most: 36% of policy statements, 2.3 times the peer share. Talk and legislation agree at 0.46 on a 0–1 scale (State House Democrats average 0.54; 389th of 503).
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 Hemmer talks about. The bills Hemmer sponsors and cosponsors carry the same areas, so the two can be compared.
Share of policy statements by area, the TN 2025–26 session
| Row | Hemmer | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Education | 36% | 15% |
| Government Operations and Politics | 16% | 15% |
| Health | 9% | 15% |
| Transportation and Public Works | 8% | 5% |
| Crime and Law Enforcement | 8% | 8% |
The thick bar is the share of Hemmer’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.
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 39%. Grey ticks are the State House Democrats averages.
| Area | Talks about | State House Democrats, talks about | Legislates on | State House Democrats, legislates on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education | 36% | 15% | 10% | 10% |
| Government Operations and Politics | 16% | 15% | 15% | 8% |
| Health | 9% | 15% | 20% | 15% |
| Transportation and Public Works | 8% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Crime and Law Enforcement | 8% | 8% | 5% | 9% |
talk-to-bills agreement, 0 to 1
State House Democrats average 0.54. Ranks 389th of 503.
Agreement is 1 minus the distance between the two distributions (Jensen–Shannon): 1 means Hemmer legislates on exactly the areas Hemmer 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 Hemmer sponsored count fully, cosponsored bills a quarter. Shown with at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills.
Hemmer sits at −0.29 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more conservative than 92% of State House Democrats. Approximate range −0.32 to −0.26, which understates the uncertainty; from 649 donors and 528 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 −0.32 to −0.26. From 649 donors and 528 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.
The outlined dot is Hemmer, 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 Hemmer’s groups. 0 is the centre of the scale, not “moderate” by definition.
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.
Every official in each group, on the CSIP scale
| Group | Officials | Median | Share left of Hemmer |
|---|---|---|---|
| State House Democrats | 2392 | −0.6 | 92% |
| Tennessee House | 97 | +0.4 | 21% |
| All State House | 5324 | +0.1 | 42% |
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 Hemmer 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 Hemmer.
Hemmer reported $27.0K in the 2026 cycle, below the State House Democrats’ median of $40.4K. State filings report no small-donation total. 98% of itemized individual money came from Tennessee.
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 31 itemized donors. State House Democrats’ median $40.4K.
Each square is one percent of itemized contributions in the 2026 cycle.
| Source | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals (itemized) | $4,197 | 15.6% |
| PACs and other committees | $22.8K | 84.4% |
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.
Itemized contributions, 2022 to 2026. The grey line is the State House Democrats’ median for 2026.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2022 cycle | $504.2K |
| 2024 cycle | $225.1K |
| 2026 cycle | $27.0K |
Itemized contributions by donor state. 98% came from Tennessee.
State filings report no total for small gifts.
Not reported in state filings.
Individuals who gave more than $200, by donor state
| State | Value |
|---|---|
| Tennessee | $4,097 |
| Indiana | $100 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Alabama | No data |
| Georgia | No data |
| Hawaii | No data |
| Texas | No data |
| Florida | No data |
itemized donors
People who gave more than $200
from Tennessee
Of itemized individual dollars
Every state the same size. Darker states gave more itemized money; hatched states had no itemized donors; the outlined state is Tennessee. Gifts of $200 or less carry no address and are left out.
Itemized, 2026 cycle.
PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.
Itemized, 2026 cycle.
No employers reported.
Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.
Hemmer voted with the majority of Tennessee House Democrats on 88% of party-line votes and missed 3.3% of 4,351 roll calls. Tennessee House on average: 96.3% party unity, 99.1% attendance. Across all roll calls, Hemmer voted against the majority of Tennessee House Democrats 78 times.
4,351 roll calls Hemmer could vote on in the TN 2025–26 session, compared with Tennessee 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 Hemmer voted with the majority of Tennessee House Democrats. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.
votes against the majority of Tennessee House Democrats
Party unity 88%, Tennessee House average 96.3%, ranks 90th of 97. 4,351 roll calls in the TN 2025–26 session.
The thick bar is Hemmer, the thin grey bar the Tennessee House average. The scale runs from 80% to 100% to show the gap.
| Row | Hemmer | Peers |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance | 96.7% | 99.1% |
| Party unity | 88% | 96.3% |
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.
25 roll calls the lab flagged as key in the TN 2025–26 session
| Party split (yea–nay) | Why it’s key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 2026 | HB 2111 Correctional Programs - As enacted, creates the state families of incarcerated individuals advisory board within the department of correction for the purposes of assisting the families of incarcerated individuals. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 41. FLOOR VOTE: MESSAGE CALENDAR 2 CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENT # 4 4/23/2026 Passed | Yea | With majority | pass | D 19–0 · R 75–0Democrats 19 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 75 yea, 0 nay | became law |
| Apr 23, 2026 | SJR 1209 Memorials, Academic Achievement - Max Christopher Collins, Salutatorian, Creek Wood High School - FLOOR VOTE: CONSENT CALENDAR 4 PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/23/2026 Passed | Yea | With majority | pass | D 17–0 · R 70–0Democrats 17 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 70 yea, 0 nay | became law |
| Apr 23, 2026 | SJR 1240 Memorials, Interns - Aaron Sullivan - FLOOR VOTE: CONSENT CALENDAR 3 PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/23/2026 Passed | Yea | With majority | pass | D 18–0 · R 71–0Democrats 18 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 71 yea, 0 nay | became law |
| Apr 23, 2026 | SJR 1208 Memorials, Academic Achievement - Christopher Heath Foster, Valedictorian, Creek Wood High School - FLOOR VOTE: CONSENT CALENDAR 4 PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/23/2026 Passed | Yea | With majority | pass | D 17–0 · R 70–0Democrats 17 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 70 yea, 0 nay | became law |
| Apr 23, 2026 | SJR 1220 Memorials, Academic Achievement - Keely Nicole Melton, Valedictorian, McEwen High School - FLOOR VOTE: CONSENT CALENDAR 4 PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/23/2026 Passed | Yea | With majority | pass | D 17–0 · R 70–0Democrats 17 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 70 yea, 0 nay | became law |
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.
The colleagues who voted the same way as Hemmer most often
The colleagues who voted the same way as Hemmer least often
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.
TN 2025–26 session, loads in batches
Hemmer sponsored 53 bills in the TN 2025–26 session; 34 became law. Cosponsored 0 others. 75% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Tennessee House average 71%; 45th of 97).
The bills Hemmer sponsored and cosponsored in the TN 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.
Counts for the TN 2025–26 session
| Role | Introduced | In committee | Passed one chamber | Passed both chambers | Became law |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsored | 53 | 51 | 37 | 34 | 34 |
| Cosponsored | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ink blocks are bills Hemmer sponsored, ochre blocks bills Hemmer 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
Tennessee House average 71%. Ranks 45th of 97.
Colleagues who most often cosponsor with Hemmer, by number of shared bills in the TN 2025–26 session; the square shows their party.
No cosponsorship ties in this window.
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 Hemmer’s bills; the toggle shows more.
Sponsored and cosponsored, with status and policy area; five are shown, the toggle shows the rest
| HJR 1476 | Memorials, Retirement - George Renaudin II - | Sponsor | Apr 16, 2026 | Became law | Unassigned | Signed by Governor. May 5, 2026 |
| HJR 1329 | Memorials, Retirement - Brenda Wynn - | Sponsor | Apr 8, 2026 | Became law | Unassigned | Signed by Governor. Apr 24, 2026 |
| HJR 1263 | Memorials, Personal Occasion - Jim and Karen Bradfield, 50th wedding anniversary - | Sponsor | Apr 1, 2026 | Became law | Unassigned | Signed by Governor. Apr 20, 2026 |
| HJR 1229 | Memorials, Recognition - City of Oak Hill's Fourth of July celebration - | Sponsor | Mar 25, 2026 | Became law | Unassigned | Signed by Governor. Apr 14, 2026 |
| HJR 1156 | Memorials, Recognition - Bert Mathews, Impact Award - | Sponsor | Mar 18, 2026 | Became law | Unassigned | Signed by Governor. Apr 9, 2026 |
A site that changed 1 time in 90 days. Hemmer’s official site had 1 page when last crawled on Oct 1, 2026.
The lab crawls Hemmer’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 Hemmer posts with a vision model.
Official site
wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/legislatorinfo/member.aspx?district=H59Last crawled Oct 1, 2026
pages crawled
changes in 90 days
pages crawled
changes in 90 days
“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.
No images from Hemmer’s posts have been described.
Written by a vision model and may be wrong. Open the post to see the original. Five are shown; the toggle shows the rest.
No transcribed state floor speeches are matched to this legislator yet.
Transcribed from chamber video or captions by the lab. They are not classified for kinds of statement.
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 is the measure on which Hemmer is most unusual among State House 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 …”).
Bulk files with the same data for every official:
America’s Political Pulse · Polarization Research Lab