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Democrat · Massachusetts House, district 5th Essex

Serving since Apr 15, 2026MA 2025–26 session

Portrait of Dru Tarr, rendered as a two-tone print
Official portrait
78%
of State House Democrats score to the right of Tarr on the CSIP scale

CSIP score −0.83 (approximate range −0.92 to −0.73, which understates the uncertainty); negative is left of the scale’s centre, positive right. From 180 donors and 36 roll calls.

CSIP places every official on one left–right scale estimated from roll-call votes, campaign donations and the text of statements; 0 is the centre of the scale, not a definition of moderate. The share says where Tarr sits among State House Democrats, not how far from the centre.

At a glance

3 measures against State House Democrats. 91% of Tarr’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from Massachusetts, in the bottom half of State House Democrats. Tarr reported $52.0K in the 2026 cycle, in the top half of State House Democrats (median $40.4K).

The measures on which Tarr 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.

CSIP ideology

−0.83

More liberal than 78% of State House Democrats · ± 0.09

From Massachusetts, 2026

91%

Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 1130th of 1,983 State House Democrats

Itemized, 2026

$52.0K

State House Democrats’ median $40.4K · ranks 898th of 2,082

Statements

No statements in this window

Roll calls

79

Compared with Massachusetts House

In office since

2026

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

Back to topNext: What politicians say

What Tarr says

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

Back to topNext: Ideology

Ideology

Tarr sits at −0.83 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more liberal than 78% of State House Democrats. Approximate range −0.92 to −0.73, which understates the uncertainty; from 180 donors and 36 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”.

−0.83

CSIP ideal point

Approximate range −0.92 to −0.73. From 180 donors and 36 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.

← More liberalMore conservative →0Tarr −0.8State House Democrats −0.6Massachusetts House −0.6All State House +0.1

The outlined dot is Tarr, 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 Tarr’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 Tarr 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 −0.6Tarr −0.8Massachusetts Housemedian −0.6All State Housemedian +0.1
Show the data
Tarr's CSIP score of −0.83 placed against State House Democrats, Massachusetts House, All State House.
GroupOfficialsMedianShare left of Tarr
State House Democrats2392−0.622%
Massachusetts House157−0.627%
All State House5324+0.110%
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 Tarr 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 Tarr.

Back to topNext: Money

Money

Tarr reported $52.0K in the 2026 cycle, above the State House Democrats’ median of $40.4K. State filings report no small-donation total. 91% of itemized individual money came from Massachusetts.

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.

$52.0K

itemized in the 2026 cycle

From 179 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): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)Individuals (itemized): $47.9K (92.0%)PACs and other committees: $4,150 (8.0%)PACs and other committees: $4,150 (8.0%)PACs and other committees: $4,150 (8.0%)PACs and other committees: $4,150 (8.0%)PACs and other committees: $4,150 (8.0%)PACs and other committees: $4,150 (8.0%)PACs and other committees: $4,150 (8.0%)PACs and other committees: $4,150 (8.0%)
  • Individuals (itemized)92 squares$47.9K
  • PACs and other committees8 squares$4,150
Show the data
Sources of Tarr's money, 2026 cycle, one square per percent
SourceAmountShare
Individuals (itemized)$47.9K92.0%
PACs and other committees$4,1508.0%
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, 2026 to 2026. The grey line is the State House Democrats’ median for 2026.

2026 cycle: $52.0K$52.0K2026State House Democrats median $40.4K
Show the data
Tarr's receipts by cycle against the 2026 State House Democrats median.
ItemValue
2026 cycle$52.0K

Top donor states, 2026

Itemized contributions by donor state. 91% came from Massachusetts.

  1. Massachusetts$43.5K
  2. California$3,082
  3. Florida$1,004
  4. New Hampshire$100
  5. Texas$51

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: $100NHWashington: $17WAIdaho: no dataIDMontana: no dataMTNorth Dakota: no dataNDMinnesota: $17MNIllinois: no dataILWisconsin: no dataWIMichigan: $4MINew York: $22NYRhode Island: no dataRIMassachusetts: $43.5KMAOregon: no dataORNevada: no dataNVWyoming: no dataWYSouth Dakota: no dataSDIowa: no dataIAIndiana: no dataINOhio: $4OHPennsylvania: $19PANew Jersey: $3NJConnecticut: no dataCTCalifornia: $3,082CAUtah: no dataUTColorado: no dataCONebraska: no dataNEMissouri: no dataMOKentucky: no dataKYWest Virginia: no dataWVVirginia: $33VAMaryland: $16MDDelaware: no dataDEArizona: no dataAZNew Mexico: no dataNMKansas: $1KSArkansas: no dataARTennessee: no dataTNNorth Carolina: no dataNCSouth Carolina: $4SCDistrict of Columbia: no dataDCOklahoma: no dataOKLouisiana: no dataLAMississippi: $4MSAlabama: $4ALGeorgia: $4GAHawaii: $3HITexas: $51TXFlorida: $1,004FL
Show the data
Tarr's itemized individual contributions by donor state, 2026 cycle
StateValue
Massachusetts$43.5K
California$3,082
Florida$1,004
New Hampshire$100
Texas$51
Virginia$33
New York$22
Pennsylvania$19
Washington$17
Minnesota$17
Maryland$16
Ohio$4
Michigan$4
South Carolina$4
Mississippi$4
Alabama$4
Georgia$4
Hawaii$3
New Jersey$3
Kansas$1
AlaskaNo data
MaineNo data
VermontNo data
IdahoNo data
MontanaNo data
North DakotaNo data
IllinoisNo data
WisconsinNo data
Rhode IslandNo data
OregonNo data
NevadaNo data
WyomingNo data
South DakotaNo data
IowaNo data
IndianaNo data
ConnecticutNo data
UtahNo data
ColoradoNo data
NebraskaNo data
MissouriNo data
KentuckyNo data
West VirginiaNo data
DelawareNo data
ArizonaNo data
New MexicoNo data
ArkansasNo data
TennesseeNo data
North CarolinaNo data
District of ColumbiaNo data
OklahomaNo data
LouisianaNo data
179

itemized donors

People who gave more than $200

91%

from Massachusetts

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

Top donor occupations

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. NOT EMPLOYED$12.7K 37 donors
  2. ATTORNEY$5,150 9 donors
  3. CONSULTANT$4,604 6 donors
  4. PRINCIPAL$1,750 8 donors
  5. RETIRED$1,500 7 donors

Top committees

PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.

  1. LOCAL 509 SERVICE EMPLOYEES INT'L UNION COMM ON POL ED, MA WORKERS' POL ACTION COMM.$500
  2. MA & NORTHERN NE LABORERS' DISTRICT COUNCIL POL ACTION COMM$500
  3. MASSACHUSETTS NURSES PAC$500
  4. PAINTERS DISTRICT COUNCIL #35 PAC$500
  5. RETIRED PUBLIC EMPLOYEES PAC$500

Top employers

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS$2,006 8 donors
  2. KEARNEY, DONOVAN & MCGEE, P.C.$800 4 donors
  3. BRIAN S. HICKEY ASSOCIATES$500 3 donors

Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.

Back to topNext: Votes

Votes

Tarr voted with the majority of Massachusetts House Democrats on 100% of party-line votes and missed none of 79 roll calls. Massachusetts House on average: 98.5% party unity, 97.4% attendance. Across all roll calls, Tarr never voted against the majority of Massachusetts House Democrats.

79 roll calls Tarr could vote on in the MA 2025–26 session, compared with Massachusetts 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 Tarr voted with the majority of Massachusetts House Democrats. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.

0

votes against the majority of Massachusetts House Democrats

Party unity 100%, Massachusetts House average 98.5%, ranks 58th of 156. 79 roll calls in the MA 2025–26 session.

Attendance and party unity

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

80%100%
Tarr
Peers
Rank
Attendance
100%
97.4%
30th of 156
Party unity
100%
98.5%
58th of 156
Show the data
Tarr's attendance and party unity against Massachusetts House.
RowTarrPeers
Attendance100%97.4%
Party unity100%98.5%
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 MA 2025–26 session

Key votes
Party split (yea–nay)Why it’s key
Jul 22, 2026
H 5595
An Act prioritizing patient access to care
H. 5595 On Engrossment
YeaWith majoritypassD 117–9 · R 0–24 · I 1–0Democrats 117 yea, 9 nay; Republicans 0 yea, 24 nay; Independents 1 yea, 0 naybecame law
Jul 22, 2026
S 2735
An Act dissolving the North Carver water district
S. 2735 On Enactment Land Taking
YeaWith majoritypassD 127–0 · R 24–0 · I 1–0Democrats 127 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 24 yea, 0 nay; Independents 1 yea, 0 naybecame law
Jul 22, 2026
H 5388
An Act authorizing the transfer of a certain parcel of land in the town of Marion from the Open Space Acquisition Commission to the Select Board
H. 5388 On Enactment Land Taking
YeaWith majoritypassD 128–0 · R 24–0 · I 1–0Democrats 128 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 24 yea, 0 nay; Independents 1 yea, 0 naybecame law
Jul 15, 2026
H 2250
An Act dissolving the Whately Water District
H. 2250 , changed On Enactment Land Taking
YeaWith majoritypassD 127–0 · R 24–0 · I 1–0Democrats 127 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 24 yea, 0 nay; Independents 1 yea, 0 naybecame law
Jul 8, 2026
H 5569
An Act relative to property tax classifications in the city of Watertown for fiscal year 2027 and subsequent fiscal years
H. 5569 On passing to be engrossed
YeaWith majoritypassD 125–0 · R 23–0 · I 1–0Democrats 125 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 23 yea, 0 nay; Independents 1 yea, 0 naybecame law
How key votes are chosen

Automatically: a final-passage or override vote where the measure became law, the margin was under 10%, at least 10% of either party voted against its majority, or the bill was among the 25 most mentioned in officials’ own statements. Up to 25 per window, most recent first; five are shown. Bars show yea on the left, nay on the right, per party.

Votes most often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Tarr most often

  1. Jay LivingstoneD79 shared votes100%
  2. Joan MeschinoD79 shared votes100%
  3. Bill GalvinD79 shared votes100%
  4. Lindsay SabadosaD78 shared votes100%
  5. David LinskyD78 shared votes100%

Votes least often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Tarr least often

  1. John GaskeyR79 shared votes48%
  2. Nick BoldygaR66 shared votes48%
  3. Marc LombardoR75 shared votes53%
  4. Donnie BerthiaumeR78 shared votes54%
  5. David DeCosteR79 shared votes54%
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

MA 2025–26 session, loads in batches

Back to topNext: Legislation

Legislation

No bills for the MA 2025–26 session.No sponsored or cosponsored bills are recorded for this official in this time window.

Back to topNext: Online

Online

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

Websites

No websites are tracked for this official.

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.

Social accounts

No social accounts on file.

Images Tarr posted

No images from Tarr’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 Tarr 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
b4f97e46-d8cd-45f7-88c4-94926b0bf60b
Open States
ocd-person/b4f97e46-d8cd-45f7-88c4-94926b0bf60b

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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