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Democrat · California Senate, district 39

Serving since Apr 19, 2021CA 2025–26 session

Portrait of Akilah Weber Pierson, rendered as a two-tone print
Official portrait
100%
of itemized money from California 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 California. Ranks 73rd of 714, where 1st is the highest share. 36 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 California, 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

6 measures against the California Senate. Pierson reported $289.6K in the 2026 cycle, in the top quarter of State Senate Democrats (median $55.5K). Pierson sits at −0.82 on the CSIP scale, more liberal than 74% of State Senate Democrats.

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

Party unity

100%

California Senate average 98.7% · ranks 4th of 39 · 4 votes against the majority of California Senate Democrats

From California, 2026

100%

Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 73rd of 714 State Senate Democrats

Itemized, 2026

$289.6K

State Senate Democrats’ median $55.5K · ranks 103rd of 746

CSIP ideology

−0.82

More liberal than 74% of State Senate Democrats · ± 0.07

Out of committee

96%

California Senate average 88% · ranks 12th of 39

Attendance

95.3%

California Senate average 93.8% · ranks 21st of 39 · 3,673 roll calls

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

Back to topNext: What politicians say

What Pierson says

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

Back to topNext: Policy

Policy

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

Back to topNext: Ideology

Ideology

Pierson sits at −0.82 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more liberal than 74% of State Senate Democrats. Approximate range −0.89 to −0.75, which understates the uncertainty; from 449 donors and 848 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”.

−0.82

CSIP ideal point

Approximate range −0.89 to −0.75. From 449 donors and 848 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.

← More liberalMore conservative →0Pierson −0.8State Senate Democrats −0.7California Senate −0.7All State Senate +0.1

The outlined dot is Pierson, 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 Pierson’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 Pierson sits

Every official in each group, on the CSIP scale

−2.0−1.00.0+1.0+2.0← More liberalMore conservative →State Senate Democratsmedian −0.7Pierson −0.8California Senatemedian −0.7All State Senatemedian +0.1
Show the data
Pierson's CSIP score of −0.82 placed against State Senate Democrats, California Senate, All State Senate.
GroupOfficialsMedianShare left of Pierson
State Senate Democrats825−0.726%
California Senate39−0.733%
All State Senate1909+0.111%
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 Pierson 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 Pierson.

Back to topNext: Money

Money

Pierson reported $289.6K in the 2026 cycle, 5.2 times the State Senate Democrats’ median of $55.5K. State filings report no small-donation total. 100% of itemized individual money came from California.

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
$289.6K

itemized in the 2026 cycle

From 36 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): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)Individuals (itemized): $53.2K (18.4%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)PACs and other committees: $236.5K (81.6%)
  • Individuals (itemized)18 squares$53.2K
  • PACs and other committees82 squares$236.5K
Show the data
Sources of Pierson's money, 2026 cycle, one square per percent
SourceAmountShare
Individuals (itemized)$53.2K18.4%
PACs and other committees$236.5K81.6%
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, 2022 to 2026. The grey line is the State Senate Democrats’ median for 2026.

2022 cycle: $874.0K$874.0K20222024 cycle: $708.7K$708.7K20242026 cycle: $289.6K$289.6K2026State Senate Democrats median $55.5K
Show the data
Pierson's receipts by cycle against the 2026 State Senate Democrats median.
ItemValue
2022 cycle$874.0K
2024 cycle$708.7K
2026 cycle$289.6K

Top donor states, 2026

Itemized contributions by donor state. 100% came from California.

  1. California$53.2K

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: no dataMEVermont: no dataVTNew Hampshire: no dataNHWashington: no dataWAIdaho: no dataIDMontana: no dataMTNorth Dakota: no dataNDMinnesota: no dataMNIllinois: no dataILWisconsin: no dataWIMichigan: no dataMINew York: no dataNYRhode Island: no dataRIMassachusetts: no dataMAOregon: no dataORNevada: no dataNVWyoming: no dataWYSouth Dakota: no dataSDIowa: no dataIAIndiana: no dataINOhio: no dataOHPennsylvania: no dataPANew Jersey: no dataNJConnecticut: no dataCTCalifornia: $53.2KCAUtah: no dataUTColorado: no dataCONebraska: no dataNEMissouri: no dataMOKentucky: no dataKYWest Virginia: no dataWVVirginia: no dataVAMaryland: no dataMDDelaware: no dataDEArizona: no dataAZNew Mexico: no dataNMKansas: no dataKSArkansas: no dataARTennessee: no dataTNNorth Carolina: no dataNCSouth Carolina: no dataSCDistrict of Columbia: no dataDCOklahoma: no dataOKLouisiana: no dataLAMississippi: no dataMSAlabama: no dataALGeorgia: no dataGAHawaii: no dataHITexas: no dataTXFlorida: no dataFL
Show the data
Pierson's itemized individual contributions by donor state, 2026 cycle
StateValue
California$53.2K
AlaskaNo data
MaineNo data
VermontNo data
New HampshireNo data
WashingtonNo data
IdahoNo data
MontanaNo data
North DakotaNo data
MinnesotaNo data
IllinoisNo data
WisconsinNo data
MichiganNo data
New YorkNo data
Rhode IslandNo data
MassachusettsNo data
OregonNo data
NevadaNo data
WyomingNo data
South DakotaNo data
IowaNo data
IndianaNo data
OhioNo data
PennsylvaniaNo data
New JerseyNo data
ConnecticutNo data
UtahNo data
ColoradoNo data
NebraskaNo data
MissouriNo data
KentuckyNo data
West VirginiaNo data
VirginiaNo data
MarylandNo data
DelawareNo data
ArizonaNo data
New MexicoNo data
KansasNo data
ArkansasNo data
TennesseeNo data
North CarolinaNo data
South CarolinaNo data
District of ColumbiaNo data
OklahomaNo data
LouisianaNo data
MississippiNo data
AlabamaNo data
GeorgiaNo data
HawaiiNo data
TexasNo data
FloridaNo data
36

itemized donors

People who gave more than $200

100%

from California

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

Top donor occupations

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER$8,500 4 donors
  2. RETIRED$7,900 3 donors
  3. NOT EMPLOYED$7,160 8 donors

Top committees

PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.

  1. CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF HEALTH FACILITIES LOS ANGELES REGION PAC$11.8K
  2. CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF HEALTH FACILITIES NORTHERN REGION PAC$11.8K
  3. CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF HEALTH FACILITIES SOUTHERN REGION PAC$11.8K
  4. CALPAC - CALIFORNIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PAC$11.8K
  5. GREATER ANESTHESIA SERVICE AND PAC$11.8K

Top employers

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO$1,850 3 donors

Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.

Back to topNext: Votes

Votes

Pierson voted with the majority of California Senate Democrats on 100% of party-line votes and missed 4.7% of 3,673 roll calls. California Senate on average: 98.7% party unity, 93.8% attendance. Across all roll calls, Pierson voted against the majority of California Senate Democrats 4 times.

3,673 roll calls Pierson could vote on in the CA 2025–26 session, compared with California Senate. 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 Pierson voted with the majority of California Senate Democrats. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.

4

votes against the majority of California Senate Democrats

Party unity 100%, California Senate average 98.7%, ranks 4th of 39. 3,673 roll calls in the CA 2025–26 session.

Attendance and party unity

The thick bar is Pierson, the thin grey bar the California Senate average. The scale runs from 80% to 100% to show the gap.

80%100%
Pierson
Peers
Rank
Attendance
95.3%
93.8%
21st of 39
Party unity
100%
98.7%
4th of 39
Show the data
Pierson's attendance and party unity against California Senate.
RowPiersonPeers
Attendance95.3%93.8%
Party unity100%98.7%
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 CA 2025–26 session

Key votes
Party split (yea–nay)Why it’s key
Sep 1, 2026
AB 113
Budget Act of 2026.
3rd Reading AB113 Gabriel By Laird
YeaWith majoritypassD 29–0 · R 0–4Democrats 29 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 0 yea, 4 naybecame law
Aug 31, 2026
AB 2564
Surveillance pricing.
3rd Reading AB2564 Ward et al. By Wiener
YeaWith majoritypassD 22–5 · R 0–9Democrats 22 yea, 5 nay; Republicans 0 yea, 9 nayparty crossover
Aug 31, 2026
AB 1349
Consumer protection: ticket sellers.
3rd Reading AB1349 Bryan et al. By Cabaldon
YeaWith majoritypassD 25–1 · R 4–4Democrats 25 yea, 1 nay; Republicans 4 yea, 4 naybecame law
Aug 31, 2026
AB 187
Employment.
3rd Reading AB187 BUDGET (Gabriel) By Laird
YeaWith majoritypassD 30–0 · R 10–0Democrats 30 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 10 yea, 0 naybecame law
Aug 31, 2026
AB 2694
Public postsecondary education: community colleges: statewide baccalaureate degree program.
3rd Reading AB2694 Alvarez et al. By Cabaldon
YeaWith majoritypassD 27–0 · R 6–1Democrats 27 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 6 yea, 1 naybecame law
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 Pierson most often

  1. Sasha PérezD3,372 shared votes100%
  2. Monique LimónD3,300 shared votes100%
  3. Mike McGuireD3,491 shared votes100%
  4. John LairdD3,491 shared votes100%
  5. Jesse ArreguínD3,463 shared votes100%

Votes least often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Pierson least often

  1. Marie Alvarado-GilR2,974 shared votes73%
  2. Kelly SeyartoR3,233 shared votes74%
  3. Tony StricklandR3,265 shared votes75%
  4. Brian JonesR3,137 shared votes75%
  5. Shannon GroveR3,157 shared votes76%
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

CA 2025–26 session, loads in batches

Back to topNext: Legislation

Legislation

Pierson sponsored 52 bills in the CA 2025–26 session; 32 became law. Cosponsored 134 others. 96% of sponsored bills got out of committee (California Senate average 88%; 12th of 39).

The bills Pierson sponsored and cosponsored in the CA 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 CA 2025–26 session

Sponsored52 billsSponsored, Introduced: 5252Sponsored, In committee: 5252Sponsored, Passed one chamber: 4444Sponsored, Passed both chambers: 3434Sponsored, Became law: 3232Cosponsored134 billsCosponsored, Introduced: 134134Cosponsored, In committee: 133133Cosponsored, Passed one chamber: 121121Cosponsored, Passed both chambers: 9797Cosponsored, Became law: 8787IntroducedIncommitteePassed onechamberPassed bothchambersBecamelaw
Show the data
Bills Pierson sponsored and cosponsored, by furthest stage reached
RoleIntroducedIn committeePassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law
Sponsored5252443432
Cosponsored1341331219787
How to read the blocks

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

96%

of sponsored bills got out of committee

California Senate average 88%. Ranks 12th of 39.

Cosponsorship partners

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

  1. Laura Richardson46
  2. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas39
  3. Mia Bonta33
  4. Sade Elhawary27
  5. Isaac Bryan26
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 Pierson’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
SR 128Relative to California Neuroblastoma Awareness Day.CosponsorAug 3, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedRead. Adopted. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 5350.) Aug 13, 2026
SR 129Relative to Women's Equality Day.CosponsorAug 3, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedRead. Adopted. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 5359.) Aug 13, 2026
SR 123Relative to medically supportive food and nutrition services.SponsorJul 2, 2026Passed one chamberHealth(model)Read. Adopted. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 5358.) Aug 13, 2026
SR 124Relative to Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month of 2026.SponsorJul 2, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedRead. Adopted. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5319.) Aug 10, 2026
SR 121Relative to the Killed in Action flag.CosponsorJun 29, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedRead. Adopted. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 5309.) Aug 10, 2026

Back to topNext: Online

Online

A site that changed 29 times in 90 days. Pierson’s official site had 39 pages when last crawled on Sep 1, 2026.

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

Websites

  • Official site

    a79.asmdc.org

    Last crawled Sep 1, 2026

    39

    pages crawled

    29

    changes in 90 days

  • Campaign site

    drakilahweber.com

    Last crawled Oct 1, 2026

    30

    pages crawled

    10

    changes 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.

Images Pierson posted

No images from Pierson’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

219 turns, Apr 19, 2021 to Sep 1, 2026

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 Pierson is most unusual among California Senate, 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
6c2a35d5-c04c-44d0-8bd9-92a625e2b525
Open States
ocd-person/6c2a35d5-c04c-44d0-8bd9-92a625e2b525

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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