Skip to content

Democrat · New York House, district 135

Serving since Jan 6, 2021NY 2025–26 session

Portrait of Jen Lunsford, rendered as a two-tone print
Official portrait
35%
of sponsored bills got out of committee, in the top quarter of the New York House

35% of 82 sponsored bills got out of committee; the average for the New York House is 20%. Ranks 19th of 148, where 1st is the highest share.

The share of bills Lunsford sponsored that a committee reported out or a chamber passed, ranked within the New York House. Members of the majority party and committee chairs move more bills, so the rank reflects position as well as effort.

At a glance

6 measures against the New York House. Lunsford sits at −0.39 on the CSIP scale, more conservative than 83% of State House Democrats. Lunsford reported $127.8K in the 2026 cycle, in the top quarter of State House Democrats (median $40.4K).

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

Out of committee

35%

New York House average 20% · ranks 19th of 148

CSIP ideology

−0.39

More conservative than 83% of State House Democrats · ± 0.04

Attendance

99.9%

New York House average 93.9% · ranks 22nd of 149 · 2,019 roll calls

Itemized, 2026

$127.8K

State House Democrats’ median $40.4K · ranks 428th of 2,082

Party unity

92.3%

New York House average 92.9% · ranks 95th of 149 · 160 votes against the majority of New York House Democrats

From New York, 2026

96%

Of itemized individual dollars · ranks 727th of 1,983 State House Democrats

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

Back to topNext: What politicians say

What Lunsford says

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

Back to topNext: Ideology

Ideology

Lunsford sits at −0.39 on the CSIP scale, left of 0, more conservative than 83% of State House Democrats. Approximate range −0.43 to −0.35, which understates the uncertainty; from 617 donors and 896 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”.

−0.39

CSIP ideal point

Approximate range −0.43 to −0.35. From 617 donors and 896 roll calls. Run 2026-10-25T215945. Blue is left of 0, red right of 0.

← More liberalMore conservative →0Lunsford −0.4State House Democrats −0.6New York House −0.5All State House +0.1

The outlined dot is Lunsford, 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 Lunsford’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 Lunsford 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 −0.6Lunsford −0.4New York Housemedian −0.5All State Housemedian +0.1
Show the data
Lunsford's CSIP score of −0.39 placed against State House Democrats, New York House, All State House.
GroupOfficialsMedianShare left of Lunsford
State House Democrats2392−0.683%
New York House150−0.554%
All State House5324+0.137%
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 Lunsford 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 Lunsford.

Back to topNext: Money

Money

Lunsford reported $127.8K in the 2026 cycle, 3.2 times the State House Democrats’ median of $40.4K. State filings report no small-donation total. 96% of itemized individual money came from New York.

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
$127.8K

itemized in the 2026 cycle

From 348 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): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)Individuals (itemized): $75.0K (58.7%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)PACs and other committees: $52.8K (41.3%)
  • Individuals (itemized)59 squares$75.0K
  • PACs and other committees41 squares$52.8K
Show the data
Sources of Lunsford's money, 2026 cycle, one square per percent
SourceAmountShare
Individuals (itemized)$75.0K58.7%
PACs and other committees$52.8K41.3%
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, 2020 to 2026. The grey line is the State House Democrats’ median for 2026.

2020 cycle: $382.8K$382.8K20202022 cycle: $430.7K$430.7K20222024 cycle: $235.5K$235.5K20242026 cycle: $127.8K$127.8K2026State House Democrats median $40.4K
Show the data
Lunsford's receipts by cycle against the 2026 State House Democrats median.
ItemValue
2020 cycle$382.8K
2022 cycle$430.7K
2024 cycle$235.5K
2026 cycle$127.8K

Top donor states, 2026

Itemized contributions by donor state. 96% came from New York.

  1. New York$72.2K
  2. California$600
  3. Rhode Island$500
  4. Colorado$500
  5. Maryland$400

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: $72.2KNYRhode Island: $500RIMassachusetts: $100MAOregon: no dataORNevada: no dataNVWyoming: no dataWYSouth Dakota: no dataSDIowa: no dataIAIndiana: no dataINOhio: $50OHPennsylvania: no dataPANew Jersey: no dataNJConnecticut: $20CTCalifornia: $600CAUtah: $150UTColorado: $500CONebraska: no dataNEMissouri: no dataMOKentucky: no dataKYWest Virginia: no dataWVVirginia: $72VAMaryland: $400MDDelaware: 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: $100GAHawaii: no dataHITexas: no dataTXFlorida: $235FL
Show the data
Lunsford's itemized individual contributions by donor state, 2026 cycle
StateValue
New York$72.2K
California$600
Rhode Island$500
Colorado$500
Maryland$400
Florida$235
Utah$150
Massachusetts$100
Georgia$100
Virginia$72
Ohio$50
Connecticut$20
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
OregonNo data
NevadaNo data
WyomingNo data
South DakotaNo data
IowaNo data
IndianaNo data
PennsylvaniaNo data
New JerseyNo data
NebraskaNo data
MissouriNo data
KentuckyNo data
West VirginiaNo 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
HawaiiNo data
TexasNo data
348

itemized donors

People who gave more than $200

96%

from New York

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

Top donor occupations

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. ATTORNEY$14.7K 27 donors
  2. NOT EMPLOYED$10.5K 59 donors
  3. LAWYER$4,750 5 donors
  4. PRESIDENT$3,800 3 donors
  5. CONSULTANT$2,300 4 donors

Top committees

PAC and committee contributions, 2026 cycle.

  1. CAIPA PAC$5,000
  2. 1199SEIU - NYS POLITICAL ACTION FUND$3,000
  3. FRIENDS OF HELENE WEINSTEIN$3,000
  4. NY WORKING FAMILIES FUND$3,000
  5. NYS PIPE TRADERS PAC$3,000

Top employers

Itemized, 2026 cycle.

  1. UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER$1,650 5 donors
  2. CATALYST GOVERNMENT RELATIONS$1,500 3 donors
  3. ROCHESTER REGIONAL HEALTH$1,100 3 donors
  4. MONROE COUNTY$1,050 6 donors

Aggregates only. Individual donors are never named.

Back to topNext: Votes

Votes

Lunsford voted with the majority of New York House Democrats on 92.3% of party-line votes and missed none of 2,019 roll calls. New York House on average: 92.9% party unity, 93.9% attendance. Across all roll calls, Lunsford voted against the majority of New York House Democrats 160 times.

2,019 roll calls Lunsford could vote on in the NY 2025–26 session, compared with New York 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 Lunsford voted with the majority of New York House Democrats. The count of votes against that majority covers every roll call where the majority took a side.

160

votes against the majority of New York House Democrats

Party unity 92.3%, New York House average 92.9%, ranks 95th of 149. 2,019 roll calls in the NY 2025–26 session.

Attendance and party unity

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

80%100%
Lunsford
Peers
Rank
Attendance
99.9%
93.9%
22nd of 149
Party unity
92.3%
92.9%
95th of 149
Show the data
Lunsford's attendance and party unity against New York House.
RowLunsfordPeers
Attendance99.9%93.9%
Party unity92.3%92.9%
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 NY 2025–26 session

Key votes
Party split (yea–nay)Why it’s key
Jun 5, 2026
S 10586
Extends provisions relating to public hearings on proposed rules
Assembly Vote
YeaWith majoritypassD 86–0 · R 43–0Democrats 86 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 43 yea, 0 naybecame law
Jun 5, 2026
S 10001
Provides for a license to sell liquor at retail for consumption on certain premises
Assembly Vote
YeaWith majoritypassD 85–2 · R 43–0Democrats 85 yea, 2 nay; Republicans 43 yea, 0 naybecame law
Jun 5, 2026
S 10655
Relates to the compensation, benefits and other terms and conditions of employment of certain state officers and employees; repealer
Assembly Vote
YeaWith majoritypassD 86–0 · R 43–0Democrats 86 yea, 0 nay; Republicans 43 yea, 0 naybecame law
Jun 5, 2026
S 9862
Authorizes the town of Minisink to impose a hotel and motel tax
Assembly Vote
NayAgainst majoritypassD 64–23 · R 30–13Democrats 64 yea, 23 nay; Republicans 30 yea, 13 naybecame law · party crossover
Jun 5, 2026
S 9027
Authorizes the village of Ellicottville to impose a hotel and motel tax
Assembly Vote
NayAgainst majoritypassD 66–21 · R 30–13Democrats 66 yea, 21 nay; Republicans 30 yea, 13 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 Lunsford most often

  1. Karen McMahonD1,957 shared votes100%
  2. Pat BurkeD1,872 shared votes99%
  3. Kwani O'PharrowD1,993 shared votes99%
  4. Al StirpeD2,011 shared votes99%
  5. Pat CarrollD2,009 shared votes99%

Votes least often with

The colleagues who voted the same way as Lunsford least often

  1. Chris FriendR1,835 shared votes69%
  2. Dave DiPietroR1,982 shared votes71%
  3. Dave McDonoughR960 shared votes74%
  4. Mike FitzpatrickR1,910 shared votes75%
  5. Andrew MolitorR2,018 shared votes76%
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

NY 2025–26 session, loads in batches

Back to topNext: Legislation

Legislation

Lunsford sponsored 82 bills in the NY 2025–26 session; 4 became law. Cosponsored 565 others. 35% of sponsored bills got out of committee (New York House average 20%; 19th of 148).

The bills Lunsford sponsored and cosponsored in the NY 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 NY 2025–26 session

Sponsored82 billsSponsored, Introduced: 8282Sponsored, In committee: 8282Sponsored, Passed one chamber: 2929Sponsored, Passed both chambers: 1313Sponsored, Became law: 44Cosponsored565 billsCosponsored, Introduced: 565565Cosponsored, In committee: 565565Cosponsored, Passed one chamber: 8282Cosponsored, Passed both chambers: 5757Cosponsored, Became law: 2020IntroducedIncommitteePassed onechamberPassed bothchambersBecamelaw
Show the data
Bills Lunsford sponsored and cosponsored, by furthest stage reached
RoleIntroducedIn committeePassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law
Sponsored828229134
Cosponsored565565825720
How to read the blocks

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

35%

of sponsored bills got out of committee

New York House average 20%. Ranks 19th of 148.

Cosponsorship partners

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

  1. Jo Anne Simon135
  2. MaryJane Shimsky115
  3. Andrew Hevesi108
  4. Dana Levenberg103
  5. Karines Reyes100
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 Lunsford’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
A 11647Establishes the 2-1-1 essential community services hotline systemCosponsorJul 29, 2026In committeeGovernment Operations and Politics(model)REFERRED TO SOCIAL SERVICES Jul 29, 2026
A 11645Enacts the "just energy transition act"CosponsorJul 29, 2026In committeeEnergy(model)REFERRED TO ENERGY Jul 29, 2026
A 11550Relates to judicial districtsCosponsorJun 1, 2026In committeeLaw(model)SUBSTITUTED BY S10626 Jun 4, 2026
A 11556Relates to energy efficiency and weatherizationCosponsorJun 1, 2026Passed one chamberEnergy(model)REFERRED TO RULES Jun 4, 2026
A 11560Enacts the responsible data center development actCosponsorJun 1, 2026Passed both chambersEnergy(model)RETURNED TO ASSEMBLY Jun 4, 2026

Back to topNext: Online

Online

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

The lab crawls Lunsford’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 Lunsford 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 Lunsford posted

No images from Lunsford’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

859 turns, Jan 26, 2021 to Jun 5, 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 Lunsford is most unusual among New York 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
f6394f20-1953-434b-a2bb-2d255d4fafbe
Open States
ocd-person/f6394f20-1953-434b-a2bb-2d255d4fafbe

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

Back to top