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Rep. Darren Soto’s 2020 Report Card

Representative from Florida's 9th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2017 – Jan 3, 2025


These statistics cover Soto’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare him 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 Soto’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.

 

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

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Soto introduced 5 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 345: SMASH Act; H.R. 496: Sinkhole Mapping Act of 2019; H.R. 549: Venezuela TPS Act of 2019; H.R. 2969: To designate the facility of …; H.R. 3094: To designate the National Pulse …

Compare to all Florida Delegation (85th percentile); House Sophomores (75th percentile); House Democrats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).


 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 4th most bills compared to Florida Delegation (tied with 1 other)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 17 of Soto’s 29 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Soto caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (81st percentile); House Sophomores (80th percentile); House Democrats (69th percentile); All Representatives (80th percentile).

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


 

Introduced the 6th most bills compared to Florida Delegation

Soto introduced 29 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (78th percentile); House Sophomores (65th percentile); House Democrats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (69th percentile).


 

Was 7th most present in votes compared to Florida Delegation

Soto missed 1.4% of votes (13 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Soto’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (22nd percentile); House Sophomores (38th percentile); All Representatives (33rd 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.


 

Ranked 10th most politically left compared to House Sophomores

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 Soto’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (26th percentile); House Sophomores (16th percentile); House Democrats (48th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile).


 

Cosponsored the 12th most bills compared to All Representatives

Soto cosponsored 1,006 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 Florida Delegation (93rd percentile); House Sophomores (93rd percentile); House Democrats (95th percentile); All Representatives (97th percentile).


 

Joined bipartisan bills the 54th most often compared to House Democrats

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 1006 bills that Soto cosponsored, 13% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (33rd percentile); House Sophomores (30th percentile); House Democrats (77th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

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


 

Ranked the 57th bottom/follower compared to House Democrats

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 Soto’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (56th percentile); House Sophomores (51st percentile); House Democrats (24th percentile); All Representatives (47th percentile).


 

Got bicameral support on the 53rd fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 34 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 3 of Soto’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.R. 4174: Guardianship Accountability Act of 2019; H.R. 7565: To authorize the Seminole Tribe …; H.R. 8725: HAPI Act

Compare to all Florida Delegation (44th percentile); House Sophomores (40th percentile); House Democrats (22nd percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

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


 

Got influential cosponsors the 104th least often compared to All Representatives (tied with 59 others)

2 of Soto’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. 1113: To state the need for …; H.R. 3094: To designate the National Pulse …

Compare to all Florida Delegation (26th percentile); House Sophomores (29th percentile); House Democrats (7th percentile); All Representatives (24th percentile).


 

Laws Enacted

Soto introduced 2 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. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 345: SMASH Act; H.R. 2969: To designate the facility of …

Compare to all Florida Delegation (70th percentile); House Sophomores (65th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); All Representatives (67th 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

Soto 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 Soto’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).


 

Cosponsors

Soto’s bills and resolutions had 270 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 Florida Delegation (56th percentile); House Sophomores (58th percentile); House Democrats (28th percentile); All Representatives (50th percentile).


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.