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Democrat · Colorado House, district 4

Serving since Jan 8, 2025CO 2025–26 session

Portrait of Cecelia Espenoza, rendered as a two-tone print
Official portrait
1
year in office

Serving since 2025. No measure in the CO 2025–26 session stands far from the peer average.

Time in the current office, from the official record.

At a glance

6 measures against the Colorado House. Espenoza sits at −0.46 on the CSIP scale, more conservative than 74% of State House Democrats. Espenoza voted against the majority of Colorado House Democrats 59 times; party unity 95.7%, in the bottom half of the Colorado House (average 94.7%). 92% of Espenoza’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from Colorado, in the bottom half of State House Democrats.

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

Attendance

99.3%

Colorado House average 96.6% · ranks 14th of 64 · 2,020 roll calls

CSIP ideology

−0.46

More conservative than 74% of State House Democrats · ± 0.05

Party unity

95.7%

Colorado House average 94.7% · ranks 38th of 64 · 59 votes against the majority of Colorado House Democrats

From Colorado, 2026

92%

Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 1081st of 1,983 State House Democrats

Out of committee

95%

Colorado House average 93% · ranks 29th of 64

Itemized, 2026

$46.3K

State House Democrats’ median $40.4K · ranks 970th of 2,082

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

Back to topNext: What politicians say

What Espenoza says

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

Back to topNext: Ideology

Ideology

Espenoza sits at −0.46 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more conservative than 74% of State House Democrats. Approximate range −0.51 to −0.41, which understates the uncertainty; from 514 donors and 298 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”.

−0.46

CSIP ideal point

Approximate range −0.51 to −0.41. From 514 donors and 298 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.

← More liberalMore conservative →0Espenoza −0.5State House Democrats −0.6Colorado House −0.6All State House +0.1

The outlined dot is Espenoza, 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 Espenoza’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 Espenoza sits

Every official in each group, on the CSIP scale

−2.0−1.00.0+1.0+2.0← More liberalMore conservative →State House Democratsmedian −0.6Espenoza −0.5Colorado Housemedian −0.6All State Housemedian +0.1
Show the data
Espenoza's CSIP score of −0.46 placed against State House Democrats, Colorado House, All State House.
GroupOfficialsMedianShare left of Espenoza
State House Democrats2392−0.674%
Colorado House64−0.661%
All State House5324+0.133%
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 Espenoza 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 Espenoza.

Back to topNext: Money

Money

Espenoza reported $46.3K in the 2026 cycle, close to the State House Democrats’ median of $40.4K. State filings report no small-donation total. 92% of itemized individual money came from Colorado.

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
$46.3K

itemized in the 2026 cycle

From 87 itemized donors. State House Democrats’ median $40.4K.

Where the money came from

Each square is one percent of itemized contributions in the 2026 cycle.

Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)Individuals (itemized): $19.3K (41.7%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)PACs and other committees: $27.0K (58.3%)
  • Individuals (itemized)42 squares$19.3K
  • PACs and other committees58 squares$27.0K
Show the data
Sources of Espenoza's money, 2026 cycle, one square per percent
SourceAmountShare
Individuals (itemized)$19.3K41.7%
PACs and other committees$27.0K58.3%
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, 2024 to 2026. The grey line is the State House Democrats’ median for 2026.

2024 cycle: $170.1K$170.1K20242026 cycle: $46.3K$46.3K2026State House Democrats median $40.4K
Show the data
Espenoza's receipts by cycle against the 2026 State House Democrats median.
ItemValue
2024 cycle$170.1K
2026 cycle$46.3K

Top donor states, 2026

Itemized contributions by donor state. 92% came from Colorado.

  1. Colorado$17.7K
  2. Washington$600
  3. Utah$450
  4. Arizona$450
  5. Virginia$70

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: $600WAIdaho: 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: $44CAUtah: $450UTColorado: $17.7KCONebraska: no dataNEMissouri: no dataMOKentucky: no dataKYWest Virginia: no dataWVVirginia: $70VAMaryland: no dataMDDelaware: no dataDEArizona: $450AZNew 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
Espenoza's itemized individual contributions by donor state, 2026 cycle
StateValue
Colorado$17.7K
Washington$600
Utah$450
Arizona$450
Virginia$70
California$44
AlaskaNo data
MaineNo data
VermontNo data
New HampshireNo 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
NebraskaNo data
MissouriNo data
KentuckyNo data
West VirginiaNo data
MarylandNo data
DelawareNo 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
87

itemized donors

People who gave more than $200

92%

from Colorado

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

Top donor occupations

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. LOBBYIST$8,194 24 donors
  2. NOT CURRENTLY EMPLOYED$2,621 16 donors
  3. GENERAL BUSINESS$2,045 8 donors
  4. ATTORNEY/LEGAL$1,339 6 donors
  5. CONSULTANT$1,113 7 donors

Top committees

PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.

  1. APARTMENT ASSOCIATION OF METRO DENVER SMALL DONOR COMMITTEE$6,200
  2. COLORADO APARTMENT ASSOCIATION SMALL DONOR COMMITTEE$6,200
  3. COLORADO MEDICAL SOCIETY SMALL DONOR COMMITTEE$2,000
  4. COLORADO DENTAL SMALL DONOR COMMITTEE$1,000
  5. PIPEFITTERS LOCAL 208 POLITICAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE$1,000

Top employers

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

No employers reported.

Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.

Back to topNext: Votes

Votes

Espenoza voted with the majority of Colorado House Democrats on 95.7% of party-line votes and missed 0.6% of 2,020 roll calls. Colorado House on average: 94.7% party unity, 96.6% attendance. Across all roll calls, Espenoza voted against the majority of Colorado House Democrats 59 times.

2,020 roll calls Espenoza could vote on in the CO 2025–26 session, compared with Colorado 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 Espenoza voted with the majority of Colorado House Democrats. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.

59

votes against the majority of Colorado House Democrats

Party unity 95.7%, Colorado House average 94.7%, ranks 38th of 64. 2,020 roll calls in the CO 2025–26 session.

Attendance and party unity

The thick bar is Espenoza, the thin grey bar the Colorado House average. The scale runs from 80% to 100% to show the gap.

80%100%
Espenoza
Peers
Rank
Attendance
99.3%
96.6%
14th of 64
Party unity
95.7%
94.7%
38th of 64
Show the data
Espenoza's attendance and party unity against Colorado House.
RowEspenozaPeers
Attendance99.3%96.6%
Party unity95.7%94.7%
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 CO 2025–26 session

Key votes
Party split (yea–nay)Why it’s key
May 13, 2026
HB 1306
Wild Horse License Plate
REPASS
YeaWith majoritypassD 41–2 · R 14–8Democrats 41 yea, 2 nay; Republicans 14 yea, 8 naybecame law · party crossover
May 13, 2026
HB 1363
Temporarily Reduce General Fund Reserve
REPASS
YeaWith majoritypassD 42–0 · R 1–21Democrats 42 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 1 yea, 21 naybecame law
May 13, 2026
SB 169
Revisor's Bill
BILL
YeaWith majoritypassD 43–0 · R 22–0Democrats 43 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 22 yea, 0 naybecame law
May 13, 2026
HB 1102
Funding for Colorado DRIVES Account
CONCUR
YeaWith majoritypassD 43–0 · R 21–1Democrats 43 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 21 yea, 1 naybecame law
May 13, 2026
HB 1223
Modifying Certain Tax Expenditures
CONCUR
YeaWith majoritypassD 38–5 · R 1–21Democrats 38 yea, 5 nay; Republicans 1 yea, 21 naybecame law · party crossover
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 Espenoza most often

  1. William LindstedtD1,033 shared votes97%
  2. Rebekah StewartD1,960 shared votes97%
  3. Andy BoeseneckerD1,996 shared votes97%
  4. Sean CamachoD1,978 shared votes97%
  5. Karen McCormickD1,987 shared votes97%

Votes least often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Espenoza least often

  1. Ken DeGraafR1,806 shared votes34%
  2. Scott BottomsR1,784 shared votes34%
  3. Ron WeinbergR1,955 shared votes35%
  4. Stephanie LuckR1,961 shared votes35%
  5. Max BrooksR2,004 shared votes40%
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

CO 2025–26 session, loads in batches

Back to topNext: Legislation

Legislation

Espenoza sponsored 64 bills in the CO 2025–26 session; 50 became law. Cosponsored 232 others. 95% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Colorado House average 93%; 29th of 64).

The bills Espenoza sponsored and cosponsored in the CO 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 CO 2025–26 session

Sponsored64 billsSponsored, Introduced: 6464Sponsored, In committee: 6262Sponsored, Passed one chamber: 6060Sponsored, Passed both chambers: 5757Sponsored, Became law: 5050Cosponsored232 billsCosponsored, Introduced: 232232Cosponsored, In committee: 232232Cosponsored, Passed one chamber: 231231Cosponsored, Passed both chambers: 218218Cosponsored, Became law: 127127IntroducedIncommitteePassed onechamberPassed bothchambersBecamelaw
Show the data
Bills Espenoza sponsored and cosponsored, by furthest stage reached
RoleIntroducedIn committeePassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law
Sponsored6462605750
Cosponsored232232231218127
How to read the blocks

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

95%

of sponsored bills got out of committee

Colorado House average 93%. Ranks 29th of 64.

Cosponsorship partners

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

  1. James Coleman41
  2. Monica Duran38
  3. Michael Carter35
  4. Jennifer Bacon30
  5. Tony Exum27
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 Espenoza’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
HJR 1032Notify Governor of AdjournmentCosponsorMay 12, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedSenate Third Reading Lay on the Table-Deemed Lost - No Amendments May 22, 2026
HB 1433Funding to Sustain Fire-Related ServicesCosponsorMay 5, 2026Became lawHealth(model)Governor Signed Jun 1, 2026
HJR 1030Mono & Matt Road DesignationCosponsorApr 30, 2026Passed both chambersUnassignedSigned by the Speaker of the House Jun 3, 2026
HB 1427Uniform Antitrust Pre-Merger Notification UpdateSponsorApr 30, 2026Became lawCommerce(model)Governor Signed Jun 4, 2026
HB 1424Transportation Network Company Consumer ProtectionCosponsorApr 27, 2026Became lawTransportation and Public Works(model)Governor Signed Jun 2, 2026

Back to topNext: Online

Online

A site that changed 1 time in 90 days. Espenoza’s official site had 1 page when last crawled on Oct 1, 2026.

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

Websites

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 Espenoza posted

No images from Espenoza’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

61 turns, Jan 22, 2025 to May 8, 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 Espenoza is most unusual among Colorado House, 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. That is the case for Espenoza in this window. The wording always names the direction (“in the bottom 5% of …”, “votes against the majority of …”).

Identifiers

Profile id
a34a6b10-12d9-4109-86d1-76c311463333
Open States
ocd-person/a34a6b10-12d9-4109-86d1-76c311463333

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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