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Democrat · South Carolina House, district 74

Serving since Dec 1, 1998SC 2025–26 session

Portrait of Todd Rutherford, rendered as a two-tone print
Official portrait
24%
of roll calls missed, attendance in the bottom quarter of the South Carolina House

Attendance 76%; the average within the South Carolina House is 88%. Ranks 112th of 124, where 1st has the highest attendance. 1,346 roll calls in the SC 2025–26 session.

Attendance is the share of the roll calls Rutherford could vote on where a yea, nay or present was recorded, ranked within the South Carolina House. A missed vote has many causes, from illness to campaigning; the number says how often, not why.

At a glance

6 measures against the South Carolina House. 100% of Rutherford’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from South Carolina, in the top tenth of State House Democrats. 98% of the 1,021 bills Rutherford sponsored got out of committee, in the top quarter of the South Carolina House.

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

Attendance

76%

South Carolina House average 88% · ranks 112th of 124 · 1,346 roll calls

From South Carolina, 2026

100%

Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 195th of 1,983 State House Democrats

Out of committee

98%

South Carolina House average 96% · ranks 13th of 124

Itemized, 2026

$22.7K

State House Democrats’ median $40.4K · ranks 1302nd of 2,082

Party unity

95.5%

South Carolina House average 93.8% · ranks 69th of 124 · 23 votes against the majority of South Carolina House Democrats

CSIP ideology

−0.65

More liberal than 54% of State House Democrats · ± 0.05

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

Back to topNext: What politicians say

What Rutherford says

Rutherford stresses bipartisanship less than 88% of State House Democrats. Bipartisanship in 0% of 35 statements, against 2.9% for the average State House Democrat; 676th of 764.

An AI model reads each of Rutherford’s 35 statements in the SC 2025–26 session (35 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.

Kinds of statement

Share of statements carrying each label, the SC 2025–26 session

0%80%
Rutherford
Peers
Rank
Policy discussion19 statements
54%
39%
163rd of 764
Policy criticism6 statements
17%
10%
168th of 764
Credit claiming3 statements
9%
14%
474th of 764
Personal attacks0 statements
0%
3%
584th of 764
Bipartisanship0 statements
0%
3%
676th of 764
Show the data
Rutherford's share of statements in each category against the State House Democrats average.
RowRutherfordPeers
Policy discussion54%39%
Policy criticism17%10%
Credit claiming9%14%
Personal attacks0%3%
Bipartisanship0%3%
35

statements classified

35 posts on X.

posts on X: 35 (100.0%)posts on X 35
Show the data
Rutherford's statements by source
PartValue
posts on X35
How to read the bars

The thick bar is Rutherford; the thin grey bar is the average State House Democrats. A longer thick bar means Rutherford does this more than peers. Rank 1 is the highest rate in the group.

Extreme labels

Rutherford used no extreme labels in 35 statements. The peer average is 1.0%.

No extreme labels in this window.

Who gets the labels

Targets named alongside an extreme label, by number of statements

No targets recorded.

What an extreme label is

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.

Month by month

Share of statements per month, the SC 2025–26 session

No month in this window has 10 or more statements, too few to chart month by month.

How to read the strips

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 SC 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%. 22 months are hatched here; 8 of them have no statements.

In Rutherford’s words

Real statements from the classifier’s example set, with the labels it assigned

Policy discussion

The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.

Mar 4, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy criticism; policy discussion; Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues · Source

Policy criticism

The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.

Mar 5, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy criticism; policy discussion; Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues; Law · Source

Credit claiming

The text of this post is on X; follow the source link to read it.

Feb 10, 2026 · Posts on X (state legislators) · policy criticism; policy discussion; credit claiming; Commerce; Economics and Public Finance · Source

Examples by category

Up to five recent statements in each category

Category

Overtly questions a named person’s character, integrity or loyalty, or calls them names. Criticising a record or a policy does not count.

No statements in this category in this window.

All 35 statements

Newest first, the SC 2025–26 session

The full feed

Five statements at a time, newest first; filters apply to the statements loaded so far. Export saves the statements that match. Sources: 35 posts on X.

Back to topNext: Policy

Policy

Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues is what Rutherford talks about most: 26% of policy statements, 2.7 times the peer share. Peers give it 9.8%. Agreement with legislation needs at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills.

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 Rutherford talks about. The bills Rutherford sponsors and cosponsors carry the same areas, so the two can be compared.

What Rutherford talks about

Share of policy statements by area, the SC 2025–26 session

0%35%
Rutherford
Peers
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues5 statements
26%
10%
Commerce4 statements
21%
3%
Economics and Public Finance4 statements
21%
11%
Education4 statements
21%
15%
Health2 statements
11%
15%
Show the data
Policy areas Rutherford talks about, as a share of policy statements, against the State House Democrats average.
RowRutherfordPeers
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues26%10%
Commerce21%3%
Economics and Public Finance21%11%
Education21%15%
Health11%15%
How to read the bars

The thick bar is the share of Rutherford’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.

Talks about · legislates on

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 35%. Grey ticks are the State House Democrats averages.

Talks aboutLegislates onCivil Rights and Liberties,Minority IssuesCivil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues, talks about: 26% (State House Democrats 10%)26%Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues, legislates on: 0% (State House Democrats 4%)0%CommerceCommerce, talks about: 21% (State House Democrats 3%)21%Commerce, legislates on: 7% (State House Democrats 4%)7%Economics and Public FinanceEconomics and Public Finance, talks about: 21% (State House Democrats 11%)21%Economics and Public Finance, legislates on: 0% (State House Democrats 2%)0%EducationEducation, talks about: 21% (State House Democrats 15%)21%Education, legislates on: 5% (State House Democrats 10%)5%HealthHealth, talks about: 11% (State House Democrats 15%)11%Health, legislates on: 16% (State House Democrats 15%)16%
Show the data
Rutherford's share of statements against share of bills in each policy area.
AreaTalks aboutState House Democrats, talks aboutLegislates onState House Democrats, legislates on
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues26%10%0%4%
Commerce21%3%7%4%
Economics and Public Finance21%11%0%2%
Education21%15%5%10%
Health11%15%16%15%

No agreement score.Needs at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills in the window.

What agreement means, and what it doesn’t

Agreement is 1 minus the distance between the two distributions (Jensen–Shannon): 1 means Rutherford legislates on exactly the areas Rutherford 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 Rutherford sponsored count fully, cosponsored bills a quarter. Shown with at least 20 policy statements and 5 bills.

Back to topNext: Ideology

Ideology

Rutherford sits at −0.65 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more liberal than 54% of State House Democrats. Approximate range −0.71 to −0.60, which understates the uncertainty; from 92 donors and 925 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”.

−0.65

CSIP ideal point

Approximate range −0.71 to −0.60. From 92 donors and 925 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.

← More liberalMore conservative →0Rutherford −0.7State House Democrats −0.6South Carolina House +0.3All State House +0.1

The outlined dot is Rutherford, 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 Rutherford’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 Rutherford 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 −0.6Rutherford −0.7South Carolina Housemedian +0.3All State Housemedian +0.1
Show the data
Rutherford's CSIP score of −0.65 placed against State House Democrats, South Carolina House, All State House.
GroupOfficialsMedianShare left of Rutherford
State House Democrats2392−0.646%
South Carolina House124+0.316%
All State House5324+0.121%
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 Rutherford 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 Rutherford.

Back to topNext: Money

Money

Rutherford reported $22.7K in the 2026 cycle, below the State House Democrats’ median of $40.4K. State filings report no small-donation total. 100% of itemized individual money came from South Carolina.

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
$22.7K

itemized in the 2026 cycle

From 18 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): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)Individuals (itemized): $13.3K (58.6%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)PACs and other committees: $9,400 (41.4%)
  • Individuals (itemized)59 squares$13.3K
  • PACs and other committees41 squares$9,400
Show the data
Sources of Rutherford's money, 2026 cycle, one square per percent
SourceAmountShare
Individuals (itemized)$13.3K58.6%
PACs and other committees$9,40041.4%
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, 2020 to 2026. The grey line is the State House Democrats’ median for 2026.

2020 cycle: $37.5K$37.5K20202022 cycle: $24.6K$24.6K20222024 cycle: $49.2K$49.2K20242026 cycle: $22.7K$22.7K2026State House Democrats median $40.4K
Show the data
Rutherford's receipts by cycle against the 2026 State House Democrats median.
ItemValue
2020 cycle$37.5K
2022 cycle$24.6K
2024 cycle$49.2K
2026 cycle$22.7K

Top donor states, 2026

Itemized contributions by donor state. 100% came from South Carolina.

  1. South Carolina$13.3K

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: no dataCAUtah: 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: $13.3KSCDistrict of Columbia: no dataDCOklahoma: no dataOKLouisiana: no dataLAMississippi: no dataMSAlabama: no dataALGeorgia: no dataGAHawaii: no dataHITexas: no dataTXFlorida: no dataFL
Show the data
Rutherford's itemized individual contributions by donor state, 2026 cycle
StateValue
South Carolina$13.3K
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
CaliforniaNo 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
District of ColumbiaNo data
OklahomaNo data
LouisianaNo data
MississippiNo data
AlabamaNo data
GeorgiaNo data
HawaiiNo data
TexasNo data
FloridaNo data
18

itemized donors

People who gave more than $200

100%

from South Carolina

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

Top donor occupations

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. ATTORNEY$6,750 8 donors

Top committees

PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.

  1. DOMINION ENERGY PAC$1,000
  2. DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION PAC$1,000
  3. NAIFA-SOUTH CAROLINA IFAPAC$1,000
  4. NATIONAL HEALTH CORPORATION PAC$1,000
  5. PLANNED PARENTHOOD VOTES! SC PAC$1,000

Top employers

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

No employers reported.

Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.

Back to topNext: Votes

Votes

Rutherford voted with the majority of South Carolina House Democrats on 95.5% of party-line votes and missed 24% of 1,346 roll calls. South Carolina House on average: 93.8% party unity, 88% attendance. Across all roll calls, Rutherford voted against the majority of South Carolina House Democrats 23 times.

1,346 roll calls Rutherford could vote on in the SC 2025–26 session, compared with South Carolina 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 Rutherford voted with the majority of South Carolina House Democrats. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.

23

votes against the majority of South Carolina House Democrats

Party unity 95.5%, South Carolina House average 93.8%, ranks 69th of 124. 1,346 roll calls in the SC 2025–26 session.

Attendance and party unity

The thick bar is Rutherford, the thin grey bar the South Carolina House average. The scale runs from 70% to 100% to show the gap.

70%100%
Rutherford
Peers
Rank
Attendance
76%
88%
112th of 124
Party unity
95.5%
93.8%
69th of 124
Show the data
Rutherford's attendance and party unity against South Carolina House.
RowRutherfordPeers
Attendance76%88%
Party unity95.5%93.8%
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 SC 2025–26 session

Key votes
Party split (yea–nay)Why it’s key
Aug 25, 2026
H 3305
Supplemental Appropriations
Concur in Senate Amendments
YeaWith majoritypassD 32–0 · R 64–15Democrats 32 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 64 yea, 15 naybecame law · party crossover
Aug 25, 2026
H 3305
Supplemental Appropriations
Table Motion to Waive Rule 4.8
NayWith majorityfailD 0–32 · R 15–64Democrats 0 yea, 32 nay; Republicans 15 yea, 64 naybecame law · party crossover
Aug 25, 2026
H 3305
Supplemental Appropriations
Table Amendment 1A
YeaWith majoritypassD 32–0 · R 63–17Democrats 32 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 63 yea, 17 naybecame law · party crossover
Aug 25, 2026
H 3305
Supplemental Appropriations
Table Amendment 2A
YeaWith majoritypassD 27–3 · R 51–18Democrats 27 yea, 3 nay; Republicans 51 yea, 18 naybecame law · party crossover
Aug 25, 2026
H 3305
Supplemental Appropriations
Waive Rule 4.8
YeaWith majoritypassD 32–0 · R 63–15Democrats 32 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 63 yea, 15 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 Rutherford most often

  1. Courtney WatersD690 shared votes98%
  2. Hamilton GrantD978 shared votes98%
  3. Beth BernsteinD877 shared votes98%
  4. Seth RoseD916 shared votes98%
  5. Wendell JonesD887 shared votes98%

Votes least often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Rutherford least often

  1. April CromerR964 shared votes58%
  2. Dianne MitchellR568 shared votes58%
  3. Rob HarrisR913 shared votes58%
  4. John LastingerR602 shared votes59%
  5. Thomas BeachR962 shared votes59%
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

SC 2025–26 session, loads in batches

Back to topNext: Legislation

Legislation

Rutherford sponsored 1,021 bills in the SC 2025–26 session; 6 became law. Cosponsored 0 others. 98% of sponsored bills got out of committee (South Carolina House average 96%; 13th of 124).

The bills Rutherford sponsored and cosponsored in the SC 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 SC 2025–26 session

Sponsored1,021 billsSponsored, Introduced: 1,0211,021Sponsored, In committee: 1,0211,021Sponsored, Passed one chamber: 1,0031,003Sponsored, Passed both chambers: 8484Sponsored, Became law: 66Cosponsored0 billsCosponsored, Introduced: 00Cosponsored, In committee: 00Cosponsored, Passed one chamber: 00Cosponsored, Passed both chambers: 00Cosponsored, Became law: 00IntroducedIncommitteePassed onechamberPassed bothchambersBecamelaw
Show the data
Bills Rutherford sponsored and cosponsored, by furthest stage reached
RoleIntroducedIn committeePassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law
Sponsored1,0211,0211,003846
Cosponsored00000
How to read the blocks

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

98%

of sponsored bills got out of committee

South Carolina House average 96%. Ranks 13th of 124.

Cosponsorship partners

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

  1. Gilda Cobb-Hunter7
  2. Wendell Gilliard6
  3. Seth Rose5
  4. Kambrell Garvin5
  5. Roger Kirby5
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 Rutherford’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
H 5810UNESCO Middle Passage MarkerSponsorAug 25, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedIntroduced and adopted Aug 25, 2026
H 5806Pastor Sammie D. Simmons Day in SCSponsorAug 25, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedIntroduced and adopted Aug 25, 2026
H 5800Friendship United Methodist Church 160th AnniversarySponsorAug 25, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedIntroduced and adopted Aug 25, 2026
H 5807Alica James obituary and memorial serviceSponsorAug 25, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedIntroduced and adopted Aug 25, 2026
H 5795Katherine Liles, sympathySponsorAug 25, 2026Passed one chamberUnassignedIntroduced and adopted Aug 25, 2026

Back to topNext: Online

Online

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

The lab crawls Rutherford’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 Rutherford 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 Rutherford posted

No images from Rutherford’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

No transcribed state floor speeches are matched to this legislator yet.

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 Rutherford is most unusual among South Carolina 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. The wording always names the direction (“in the bottom 5% of …”, “votes against the majority of …”).

Identifiers

Profile id
ad25d5ef-8d4f-425f-9dbd-0b018f1771cc
Open States
ocd-person/ad25d5ef-8d4f-425f-9dbd-0b018f1771cc

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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