skip to main content
Hide All The Ads With a Yearly Membership Subscribe ▶

Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s 2020 Report Card

Representative from Massachusetts's 7th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2019 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Pressley’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare her to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 30, 2021.

A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of Pressley’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.

Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.

Jump to...

 

Got bicameral support on the most bills compared to Massachusetts Delegation

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 9 of Pressley’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: H.Res. 1269: Calling on the President of …; H.R. 678: Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor …; H.R. 3922: American Opportunity Accounts Act; H.R. 4052: To prohibit the imposition of …; H.R. 6949: Saving Our Street Act; H.R. 7268: Andrew Kearse Accountability for Denial …; H.R. 7983: COVID–19 in Corrections Data Transparency …; H.R. 8178: Anti-Racism in Public Health Act …; H.Con.Res. 40: Supporting reproductive health care in …

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (89th percentile); House Freshmen (90th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); All Representatives (86th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the fewest bills compared to Massachusetts Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 2 of Pressley’s 30 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Pressley caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (9th percentile); House Democrats (3rd percentile); All Representatives (8th percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Ranked most politically left compared to Massachusetts Delegation

Our unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 116th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Pressley’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (1st percentile); House Democrats (1st percentile); All Representatives (1st percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 2nd most often compared to House Freshmen

11 of Pressley’s bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward.

Those bills were: H.Res. 702: Recognizing that the United States …; H.Res. 988: Condemning all acts of police …; H.R. 2602: Healthy MOMMIES Act; H.R. 3296: Affordability is Access Act; H.R. 4052: To prohibit the imposition of …; H.R. 5325: Ending PUSHOUT Act of 2019; H.R. 6362: Public Health Emergency Shelter Act …; H.R. 6724: Public Health Emergency Shelter Act …; H.R. 7983: COVID–19 in Corrections Data Transparency …; H.R. 8178: Anti-Racism in Public Health Act …; H.Con.Res. 40: Supporting reproductive health care in …

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (89th percentile); House Freshmen (98th percentile); House Democrats (82nd percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 3rd least often compared to All Representatives

Of the 659 bills that Pressley cosponsored, 2% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (1st percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Got the 3rd most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Freshmen

Pressley’s bills and resolutions had 843 cosponsors in the 116th Congress. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (89th percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile).

 

Ranked the 3rd top leader compared to House Freshmen

Our unique leadership analysis looks at who is cosponsoring whose bills. A higher score shows a greater ability to get cosponsors on bills.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 116th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Pressley’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (67th percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); House Democrats (73rd percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 3rd least often compared to Massachusetts Delegation (tied with 1 other)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Pressley introduced 3 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.Res. 456: Emphasizing the importance of grassroots …; H.R. 3621: Comprehensive CREDIT Act of 2020; H.R. 5021: Ending Debt Collection Harassment Act …

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (22nd percentile); House Freshmen (52nd percentile); House Democrats (24th percentile); All Representatives (47th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 11th most bills compared to House Freshmen

Pressley cosponsored 659 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (67th percentile); House Freshmen (89th percentile); House Democrats (74th percentile); All Representatives (86th percentile).

 

Introduced the 16th most bills compared to House Freshmen (tied with 3 others)

Pressley introduced 30 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (67th percentile); House Freshmen (80th percentile); House Democrats (56th percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Pressley introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 116th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill.
 

Committee Positions

Pressley held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Pressley’s Profile »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Pressley missed 1.5% of votes (14 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Pressley’s Profile »

Compare to all Massachusetts Delegation (33rd percentile); House Freshmen (60th percentile); All Representatives (35th percentile).

The Speaker of the House, per current House rules, is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings” and is never recorded as missing a vote, and may not be included in the comparison with other representatives if not voting. The delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are not eligible to vote in most roll call votes and so may not appear here if not elligible for any vote during the time period of these statistics.

Additional Notes

Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.

Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).

Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.

Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of the 116th Congress) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.