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Democrat · Montana House, district 96

Serving since Jan 2, 2023MT 2025–26 session

Portrait of Bob Carter, rendered as a two-tone print
Official portrait
11%
of itemized money from Montana donors, in the bottom 5% of State House Democrats

11% of the itemized money from individuals in the 2026 cycle came from donors with an address in Montana. Ranks 1899th of 1,983, where 1st is the highest share. 5 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 Montana, ranked among State House 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

5 measures against State House Democrats. Carter reported $900 in the 2026 cycle, in the bottom 5% of State House Democrats (median $40.4K). Carter voted against the majority of Montana House Democrats 144 times; party unity 90.7%, in the bottom half of the Montana House (average 89%).

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

From Montana, 2026

11%

Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 1899th of 1,983 State House Democrats

Itemized, 2026

$900

State House Democrats’ median $40.4K · ranks 2018th of 2,082

Attendance

100%

Montana House average 99.2% · ranks 7th of 97 · 2,755 roll calls

Party unity

90.7%

Montana House average 89% · ranks 65th of 97 · 144 votes against the majority of Montana House Democrats

CSIP ideology

−0.51

More conservative than 68% of State House Democrats · ± 0.06

Statements

No statements in this window

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

Back to topNext: What politicians say

What Carter says

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

Back to topNext: Ideology

Ideology

Carter sits at −0.51 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more conservative than 68% of State House Democrats. Approximate range −0.57 to −0.44, which understates the uncertainty; from 44 donors and 300 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”.

−0.51

CSIP ideal point

Approximate range −0.57 to −0.44. From 44 donors and 300 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.

← More liberalMore conservative →0Carter −0.5State House Democrats −0.6Montana House +0.1All State House +0.1

The outlined dot is Carter, 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 Carter’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 Carter 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 −0.6Carter −0.5Montana Housemedian +0.1All State Housemedian +0.1
Show the data
Carter's CSIP score of −0.51 placed against State House Democrats, Montana House, All State House.
GroupOfficialsMedianShare left of Carter
State House Democrats2392−0.668%
Montana House100+0.128%
All State House5324+0.130%
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 Carter 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 Carter.

Back to topNext: Money

Money

Carter reported $900 in the 2026 cycle, 2.2% of the State House Democrats’ median of $40.4K. State filings report no small-donation total. 11% of itemized individual money came from Montana.

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
$900

itemized in the 2026 cycle

From 5 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): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)Individuals (itemized): $900 (100.0%)
  • Individuals (itemized)100 squares$900
Show the data
Sources of Carter's money, 2026 cycle, one square per percent
SourceAmountShare
Individuals (itemized)$900100.0%
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 House Democrats’ median for 2026.

2022 cycle: $8,659$8,65920222024 cycle: $1,149$1,14920242026 cycle: $900$9002026State House Democrats median $40.4K
Show the data
Carter's receipts by cycle against the 2026 State House Democrats median.
ItemValue
2022 cycle$8,659
2024 cycle$1,149
2026 cycle$900

Top donor states, 2026

Itemized contributions by donor state. 11% came from Montana.

  1. Washington$750
  2. Montana$100
  3. Hawaii$50

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: $750WAIdaho: no dataIDMontana: $100MTNorth 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: no dataSCDistrict of Columbia: no dataDCOklahoma: no dataOKLouisiana: no dataLAMississippi: no dataMSAlabama: no dataALGeorgia: no dataGAHawaii: $50HITexas: no dataTXFlorida: no dataFL
Show the data
Carter's itemized individual contributions by donor state, 2026 cycle
StateValue
Washington$750
Montana$100
Hawaii$50
AlaskaNo data
MaineNo data
VermontNo data
New HampshireNo data
IdahoNo 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
South CarolinaNo data
District of ColumbiaNo data
OklahomaNo data
LouisianaNo data
MississippiNo data
AlabamaNo data
GeorgiaNo data
TexasNo data
FloridaNo data
5

itemized donors

People who gave more than $200

11%

from Montana

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

Top donor occupations

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

No occupations reported.

Top committees

PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.

No committee contributions this cycle.

Top employers

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. PUGET SOUND ENERGY$750 3 donors

Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.

Back to topNext: Votes

Votes

Carter voted with the majority of Montana House Democrats on 90.7% of party-line votes and missed none of 2,755 roll calls. Montana House on average: 89% party unity, 99.2% attendance. Across all roll calls, Carter voted against the majority of Montana House Democrats 144 times.

2,755 roll calls Carter could vote on in the MT 2025–26 session, compared with Montana 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 Carter voted with the majority of Montana House Democrats. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.

144

votes against the majority of Montana House Democrats

Party unity 90.7%, Montana House average 89%, ranks 65th of 97. 2,755 roll calls in the MT 2025–26 session.

Attendance and party unity

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

80%100%
Carter
Peers
Rank
Attendance
100%
99.2%
7th of 97
Party unity
90.7%
89%
65th of 97
Show the data
Carter's attendance and party unity against Montana House.
RowCarterPeers
Attendance100%99.2%
Party unity90.7%89%
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

Roll calls the lab flags as key

No votes in this window met the key-vote rules.

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 Carter most often

  1. Mark ThaneD2,753 shared votes94%
  2. Tyson Running WolfD2,668 shared votes94%
  3. Shelly FyantD2,752 shared votes94%
  4. Jamie IsalyD2,754 shared votes94%
  5. Melissa RomanoD2,755 shared votes94%

Votes least often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Carter least often

  1. Caleb HinkleR2,755 shared votes55%
  2. Kathy LoveR2,753 shared votes56%
  3. Lukas SchubertR2,733 shared votes57%
  4. Ed ByrneR2,753 shared votes58%
  5. Jedediah HinkleR2,745 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

MT 2025–26 session, loads in batches

Back to topNext: Legislation

Legislation

Carter sponsored 1 bill in the MT 2025–26 session; none became law. Cosponsored 0 others.

The bills Carter sponsored and cosponsored in the MT 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 MT 2025–26 session

Sponsored1 billsSponsored, Introduced: 11Sponsored, In committee: 11Sponsored, Passed one chamber: 00Sponsored, Passed both chambers: 00Sponsored, Became law: 00Cosponsored0 billsCosponsored, Introduced: 00Cosponsored, In committee: 00Cosponsored, Passed one chamber: 00Cosponsored, Passed both chambers: 00Cosponsored, Became law: 00IntroducedIncommitteePassed onechamberPassed bothchambersBecamelaw
Show the data
Bills Carter sponsored and cosponsored, by furthest stage reached
RoleIntroducedIn committeePassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law
Sponsored11000
Cosponsored00000
How to read the blocks

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

No effectiveness score.Too few sponsored bills to score (at least 5 are needed).

Cosponsorship partners

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

No cosponsorship ties in this window.

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 Carter’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
HJ 18Resolution supporting DC statehoodSponsorJan 3, 2025In committeeGovernment Operations and Politics(model)(H) Died in Process May 20, 2025

Back to topNext: Online

Online

A site that has not changed in 90 days. Carter’s official site had 1 page when last crawled on Oct 1, 2026.

The lab crawls Carter’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 Carter 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 Carter posted

No images from Carter’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

1 turn, Mar 29, 2025 to Mar 29, 2025

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 Carter is most unusual among State House Democrats, chosen by one rule for every official of every party. The candidates are the rate of each kind of statement and of extreme labels, party unity, attendance, the small-donor share, the in-state share and total receipts of the latest cycle, the share of sponsored bills that got out of committee, talk-to-bills agreement, and the CSIP score’s place within the party group.

The builder ranks every measure within the same peer group the page compares it with, and writes each official’s percentile: the share of the group below the value, ties counting half, so 0.5 is the median and a value shared by many never ranks first. A measure’s score is how far that percentile sits from the median (0 in the middle, 0.5 at either end), and the highest score leads if it is above 0.25, outside the middle half of the group. Scores within 0.03 of each other are a tie, broken in this order: votes against the party majority, kinds of statement, ideology, roll calls missed, small donations, in-state money, legislation, agreement, extreme labels, receipts.

A measure counts only with at least 200 statements, 100 roll calls or 5 sponsored bills behind it and a peer group of at least 10. Two things never lead: high party unity or attendance, where most members sit, and a high rate of a kind of statement backed by fewer than 10 statements. When nothing qualifies, the headline is a neutral fact instead: statements classified, or years in office. The wording always names the direction (“in the bottom 5% of …”, “votes against the majority of …”).

Identifiers

Profile id
ad9a1852-425f-4f4b-9b6e-270f2c282024
Open States
ocd-person/ad9a1852-425f-4f4b-9b6e-270f2c282024

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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