# Meg Loughran Cappel

Meg Loughran Cappel is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate for district 49.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Illinois Senate, district 49
- Serving since: 2020-12-11
- Current term: IL 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/d218f82f-ce03-4277-9408-119857d1e61f

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/d218f82f-ce03-4277-9408-119857d1e61f (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Cappel missed 17% of 1,502 roll calls, attendance in the bottom tenth of the Illinois Senate (average 95.4%).

## What Cappel says (IL 2025–26 session)

31 classified statements: 31 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Cappel | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.4% | 248 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 0.0% | 10.3% | 304 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 41.9% | 42.9% | 176 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 3.2% | 3.4% | 133 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 29.0% | 16.1% | 49 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 46% (State Senate Democrats 15%); Economics and Public Finance 15% (State Senate Democrats 10%); Agriculture and Food 7.7% (State Senate Democrats 4.7%); Commerce 7.7% (State Senate Democrats 3.6%); Crime and Law Enforcement 7.7% (State Senate Democrats 8.4%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.40 (standard error 0.02), from 38 donors and 783 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 83% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (IL 2025–26 session)

1,502 roll calls. Attendance 83% (Illinois Senate 95.4%). Party unity 94.5% (95.3%). 10 votes against the party majority.

## Legislation (IL 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 69 bills: 69 reached committee, 35 passed one chamber, 28 passed both, 27 became law. Cosponsored 146. 53.6% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Illinois Senate 42.1%; rank 11 of 59).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SB 4181: $DHS-SPECIAL OLYMPICS ILLINOIS (in committee, 2026-03-24) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4181/
- SB 4170: BEHAVIOR ANALYST LICENSING (in committee, 2026-03-10) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4170/
- SR 614: AUTISM AWARENESS DAY (passed one chamber, 2026-06-30) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR614/
- HB 5551: SCH CD-VARIOUS FUNDING (became law, 2026-06-26) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/HB5551/
- SB 3906: CRIM PRO-PRETRIAL RELEASE REV (in committee, 2026-02-06) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB3906/
- SB 3905: REGULATION-TECH (in committee, 2026-02-06) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB3905/
- SB 3928: SCH CD-INVESTIGATE ED LICENSE (in committee, 2026-03-13) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB3928/
- SB 3904: AUSTISM/NEURODIVERGENT PLATES (passed one chamber, 2026-06-30) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB3904/
- SB 4014: SCH CD-VARIOUS FUNDING (in committee, 2026-02-06) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4014/
- HB 5225: AUTISM SPECTRUM-DIAGNOSIS (became law, 2026-07-10) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/HB5225/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $204.3K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 83% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-03-11 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/2031831192945799300
- 2026-02-23 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/2025963868212932882
- 2025-04-11 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/1910730822069739554
- 2025-04-10 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/1910348574228984165
- 2025-03-21 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/1903192022216843572
- 2025-03-11 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/1899537197176402201
- 2025-02-27 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/1895160760772210730
- 2025-02-25 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/1894387122825478301
- 2025-02-25 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/1894537188978684239
- 2025-02-25 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenatorMeg49/status/1894537653946605842

## Links

- Official site: https://www.ilga.gov/senate/Senator.asp?GA=103&MemberID=3172
- Campaign site: https://megforillinois.com/ https://www.senatorloughrancappel.com/
- X: https://x.com/SenatorMeg49
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenatorMegLoughranCappel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megforillinois
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megloughrancappel/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@senatormeg
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-cappel-674a37ba/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/d218f82f-ce03-4277-9408-119857d1e61f