Renacci was the representative for Ohio’s 16th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 2011 to 2018.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In April 2018, the Ohio Democratic Party filed a complaint against Renacci with the Office of Congressional Ethics for misusing his congressional office for campaign purposes. In November 2018, Renacci lost the Senate election to Sherrod Brown and the House Committee on Ethics extended its investigation of the allegations. The Committee ceased investigating at the end of the 115th because they no longer had jurisdiction.
Aug. 9, 2018 | Office of Congressional Ethics referred the allegations to the House Committee on Ethics for further investigation. |
Nov. 6, 2018 | Renacci lost the Senate election against Sherrod Brown and leaves Congress at the end of the 115th Congress. |
Jan. 2, 2019 | House Committee on Ethics ceased investigating with the end of the 115th Congress because they no longer had jurisdiction. |
![Photo of Rep. James Renacci [R-OH16, 2011-2018]](/static/legislator-photos/412462-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Renacci.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Renacci is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2018 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Renacci sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2013 to Dec 21, 2018. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Renacci was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 1861 (115th): Larry Doby Congressional Gold Medal Act
- H.R. 5715 (115th): Strengthening Partnerships to Prevent Opioid Abuse Act
- H.R. 3856 (114th): Information Reporting Simplification Act of 2015
- H.R. 2821 (114th): Partnership Audit Simplification Act of 2015
- H.R. 289 (114th): Better Efficiency and Administrative Simplification Act of 2015
Does 5 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Renacci sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (36%) Health (25%) Finance and Financial Sector (11%) Labor and Employment (9%) Government Operations and Politics (5%) Social Welfare (5%) Armed Forces and National Security (5%) Education (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Renacci’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 5715 (115th): Strengthening Partnerships to Prevent Opioid Abuse Act
- H.R. 5439 (115th): To provide for a single point of contact at the Internal Revenue ...
- H.R. 5377 (115th): Creating An Online Platform For Instant 1099 Submissions Act
- H.R. 5376 (115th): Protecting Taxpayer Confidentiality Through Safeguards Act
- H.Res. 683 (115th): Recognizing January 2018 as “National Mentoring Month”, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 4701 (115th): CARES Act of 2017
- H.R. 4312 (115th): Fallen Warrior Battlefield Cross Memorial Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2011 to Dec 2018, Renacci missed 188 of 5,345 roll call votes, which is 3.5%. This is on par with the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2018. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills