# Melissa Ratcliff

Melissa Ratcliff is a Democratic member of the Wisconsin Senate for district 16.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Wisconsin Senate, district 16
- Serving since: 2023-01-03
- Current term: WI 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/784b437c-b5d1-4adc-909a-2bc28c9d6e88

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/784b437c-b5d1-4adc-909a-2bc28c9d6e88 (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

Ratcliff sits at −0.42 on the CSIP scale, more conservative than 81% of State Senate Democrats.

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.42 (standard error 0.03), from 521 donors and 288 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 81% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (WI 2025–26 session)

191 roll calls. Attendance 100% (Wisconsin Senate 99.8%). Party unity 96.7% (97.3%). 8 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 483 bills: 483 reached committee, 43 passed one chamber, 18 passed both, 17 became law. Cosponsored 0. 14.3% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Wisconsin Senate 42.9%; rank 26 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 1162: Relating to: eliminating recovery by the state for birth expenses paid through the Medical Assistance program. (FE) (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1162/
- 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 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 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 1139: Relating to: preference in state and local government contracts and procurement for materials manufactured in the United States and granting rule-making… (in committee, 2026-04-08) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1139/
- 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/
- SB 1115: Relating to: minimum nurse staffing ratios in hospitals, registered nurses’ right to refuse a work assignment, prohibiting mandatory overtime for registered… (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1115/
- SB 1131: Relating to: requiring an employer to provide reasonable break time and accommodations for an employee who is breastfeeding the employee’s child to express… (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB1131/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $41.1K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 98% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Links

- Official site: https://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/46/ratcliff/
- Campaign site: https://ratcliffforsenate.com/
- X: https://x.com/RepRatcliff
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WIRepRatcliff
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissa_ratcliff1/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@melissaratcliffforassembly8091
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-ratcliff-28471520/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/784b437c-b5d1-4adc-909a-2bc28c9d6e88