Ken Calvert, Representative for California's 42nd Congressional District

Calvert is the representative for California’s 42^nd congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Calvert is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.

He was previously the representative for California’s 44^th congressional district as a Republican from 2003 to 2012; and the representative for California’s 43^rd congressional district as a Republican from 1993 to 2002.

Calvert is among the Republican legislators who, by calling for entire states to be disenfranchised in the 2020 presidential election, fomented the terrorist attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 that aimed to prevent the determination of the next president of the United States. Shortly after the 2020 election, Calvert joined a case before the Supreme Court calling for all the votes for president in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — states that were narrowly won by Democrats — to be discounted, claiming that some voters there followed procedures set by the wrong state officials. The case amplified lies and conspiracy theories that fueled the movement that led to the attack on the Capitol. The Supreme Court rejected the case. Following the rejection of several cases before the Supreme Court, one legislator called for violence. On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the attack on the Capitol, Calvert voted for the exclusion of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania — states narrowly won by Democrats — from the count of Electoral College votes that determined the next President of the United States.

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 Report Card for Calvert.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Calvert is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives 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 Calvert has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jun 15, 2021. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

United States Chamber of Commerce: 92% The Club for Growth: 61% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: C League of Conservation Voters: 7% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 3% Human Rights Campaign: 0%

Committee Membership

Ken Calvert sits on the following committees:

House Committee on Appropriations

Enacted Legislation

Calvert was the primary sponsor of 15 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

Does 15 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Calvert sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Crime and Law Enforcement (22%) Environmental Protection (15%) Government Operations and Politics (15%) Armed Forces and National Security (15%) Health (10%) Immigration (10%) Labor and Employment (7%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (7%)

Recent Bills

Some of Calvert’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Calvert voted Nay

H.R. 985: Concrete Masonry Products Research, Education, and Promotion Act of 2015

Passed 355/38 on Nov 14, 2016.

Calvert voted Yea

H.R. 2048: Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015

Passed 338/88 on May 13, 2015.

The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of ...

Calvert voted Yea

H.R. 83 (113th): Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015

Passed 219/206 on Dec 11, 2014.

This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 [pdf], which was approved by the House on December ...

Calvert voted Aye

H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015

Passed 319/108 on Sep 17, 2014.

Calvert voted No

H.R. 3521 (112th): Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act of 2012

Passed 254/173 on Feb 8, 2012.

Calvert voted Aye

H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.

The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack ...

Calvert voted Yea

H.R. 3585 (111th): Solar Technology Roadmap Act

Passed 310/106 on Oct 22, 2009.

Calvert voted Yea

H.R. 1388 (111th): Serve America Act

Passed 321/105 on Mar 18, 2009.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act or Serve America Act (H.R. 1388, Public Law 111-13) was introduced in the United States House of Representatives ...

Calvert voted Aye

H.R. 1262 (111th): Water Quality Investment Act of 2009

Passed 317/101 on Mar 12, 2009.

Calvert voted Aye

H.R. 80 (111th): Captive Primate Safety Act

Passed 323/95 on Feb 24, 2009.

Calvert voted Yea

H.Res. 1525 (110th): Providing for consideration of the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 1424) to amend section 712 of ...

Passed 223/205 on Oct 3, 2008.

Calvert voted Yea

H.R. 249 (110th): To restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros.

Passed 277/137 on Apr 26, 2007.

Missed Votes

From Jan 1993 to Jun 2021, Calvert missed 497 of 18,294 roll call votes, which is 2.7%. This is on par with the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. 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.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1993 Jan-Mar	127	3	2.4%	36^th
1993 Apr-Jun	190	15	7.9%	73^rd
1993 Jul-Sep	164	0	0.0%	0^th
1993 Oct-Nov	134	1	0.7%	20^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	1	1.1%	12^th
1994 Apr-Jun	219	13	5.9%	81^st
1994 Jul-Sep	142	15	10.6%	83^rd
1994 Oct-Nov	51	6	11.8%	88^th
1995 Jan-Mar	279	2	0.7%	37^th
1995 Apr-Jun	189	10	5.3%	74^th
1995 Jul-Sep	232	2	0.9%	35^th
1995 Oct-Dec	185	8	4.3%	74^th
1996 Jan-Mar	110	4	3.6%	46^th
1996 Apr-Jun	182	21	11.5%	96^th
1996 Jul-Sep	163	0	0.0%	0^th
1997 Jan-Mar	71	2	2.8%	47^th
1997 Apr-Jun	174	5	2.9%	63^rd
1997 Jul-Sep	232	1	0.4%	12^th
1997 Oct-Nov	163	2	1.2%	41^st
1998 Jan-Mar	89	1	1.1%	22^nd
1998 Apr-Jun	185	0	0.0%	0^th
1998 Jul-Sep	199	0	0.0%	0^th
1998 Oct-Dec	74	4	5.4%	79^th
1999 Jan-Mar	77	1	1.3%	30^th
1999 Apr-Jun	184	1	0.5%	12^th
1999 Jul-Sep	204	5	2.5%	70^th
1999 Oct-Nov	146	6	4.1%	73^rd
2000 Jan-Mar	95	5	5.3%	58^th
2000 Apr-Jun	277	1	0.4%	15^th
2000 Jul-Sep	130	4	3.1%	67^th
2000 Oct-Dec	101	11	10.9%	74^th
2001 Jan-Mar	75	4	5.3%	85^th
2001 Apr-Jun	135	6	4.4%	82^nd
2001 Jul-Sep	149	1	0.7%	28^th
2001 Oct-Dec	153	2	1.3%	32^nd
2002 Jan-Mar	79	8	10.1%	88^th
2002 Apr-Jun	203	6	3.0%	61^st
2002 Jul-Sep	141	9	6.4%	76^th
2002 Oct-Nov	61	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Jan-Mar	94	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Apr-Jun	239	5	2.1%	54^th
2003 Jul-Sep	193	1	0.5%	11^th
2003 Oct-Dec	151	19	12.6%	91^st
2004 Jan-Mar	104	14	13.5%	87^th
2004 Apr-Jun	221	0	0.0%	0^th
2004 Jul-Sep	161	5	3.1%	47^th
2004 Oct-Dec	58	0	0.0%	0^th
2005 Jan-Mar	90	1	1.1%	15^th
2005 Apr-Jun	272	4	1.5%	41^st
2005 Jul-Sep	146	3	2.1%	54^th
2005 Oct-Dec	163	10	6.1%	85^th
2006 Jan-Mar	81	1	1.2%	38^th
2006 Apr-Jun	276	9	3.3%	71^st
2006 Jul-Sep	159	5	3.1%	63^rd
2006 Nov-Dec	27	0	0.0%	0^th
2007 Jan-Mar	213	31	14.6%	98^th
2007 Apr-Jun	393	9	2.3%	64^th
2007 Jul-Sep	317	8	2.5%	67^th
2007 Oct-Dec	263	12	4.6%	69^th
2008 Jan-Mar	149	7	4.7%	61^st
2008 Apr-Jun	321	12	3.7%	59^th
2008 Jul-Sep	205	5	2.4%	49^th
2008 Oct-Dec	15	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jan-Mar	174	6	3.4%	69^th
2009 Apr-Jun	303	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jul-Sep	268	1	0.4%	9^th
2009 Oct-Dec	246	2	0.8%	19^th
2010 Jan-Mar	195	12	6.2%	76^th
2010 Apr-Jun	219	10	4.6%	65^th
2010 Jul-Sep	151	1	0.7%	21^st
2010 Nov-Dec	99	14	14.1%	89^th
2011 Jan-Mar	212	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Apr-Jun	281	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Jul-Sep	247	4	1.6%	52^nd
2011 Oct-Dec	208	6	2.9%	60^th
2012 Jan-Mar	151	0	0.0%	0^th
2012 Apr-Jun	299	9	3.0%	65^th
2012 Jul-Sep	152	0	0.0%	0^th
2012 Nov-Dec	51	4	7.8%	75^th
2013 Jan-Jan	5	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	89	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Apr-Jun	215	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jul-Sep	200	1	0.5%	23^rd
2013 Oct-Dec	137	5	3.6%	67^th
2014 Jan-Mar	148	5	3.4%	65^th
2014 Apr-Jun	219	3	1.4%	45^th
2014 Jul-Sep	147	3	2.0%	59^th
2014 Nov-Dec	49	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jan-Mar	144	1	0.7%	25^th
2015 Apr-Jun	244	1	0.4%	24^th
2015 Jul-Sep	139	1	0.7%	31^st
2015 Oct-Dec	177	2	1.1%	50^th
2016 Jan-Mar	137	1	0.7%	15^th
2016 Apr-Jun	204	3	1.5%	40^th
2016 Jul-Sep	232	8	3.4%	78^th
2016 Nov-Dec	48	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	208	4	1.9%	61^st
2017 Apr-Jun	136	1	0.7%	31^st
2017 Jul-Sep	199	1	0.5%	36^th
2017 Oct-Dec	167	1	0.6%	24^th
2018 Jan-Mar	129	3	2.3%	51^st
2018 Apr-Jun	184	2	1.1%	28^th
2018 Jul-Sep	102	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Nov-Dec	85	0	0.0%	0^th
2019 Jan-Mar	136	0	0.0%	0^th
2019 Apr-Jun	294	3	1.0%	46^th
2019 Jul-Sep	125	0	0.0%	0^th
2019 Oct-Dec	146	1	0.7%	28^th
2020 Jan-Mar	102	2	2.0%	48^th
2020 Apr-Jun	31	1	3.2%	76^th
2020 Jul-Sep	80	2	2.5%	65^th
2020 Oct-Dec	40	18	45.0%	98^th
2021 Jan-Mar	97	7	7.2%	94^th
2021 Apr-Jun	73	1	1.4%	53^rd

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

Rep. Ken Calvert

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Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Committee Membership

Enacted Legislation

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Recent Bills

Voting Record

Key Votes

Calvert voted Nay

Calvert voted Yea

Calvert voted Yea

Calvert voted Aye

Calvert voted No

Calvert voted Aye

Calvert voted Yea

Calvert voted Yea

Calvert voted Aye

Calvert voted Aye

Calvert voted Yea

Calvert voted Yea

Missed Votes

Primary Sources