Rep. Randall “Duke” Cunningham

Former Representative for California’s 50^th District

Cunningham was the representative for California’s 50^th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 2003 to 2005.

He was previously the representative for California’s 51^st congressional district as a Republican from 1993 to 2002; and the representative for California’s 44^th congressional district as a Republican from 1991 to 1992.

OpenSecrets Bioguide

Photo of Rep. Randall “Duke” Cunningham [R-CA50, 2003-2005]

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Misconduct

Cunningham faced an allegation of tax evasion, conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud. On Jul. 14, 2005, he announced he would not run for re-election. On Nov. 28, 2005, he pleaded guilty. On Nov. 28, 2005, he resigned. On January 20, 2021, Cunningham was pardoned by President Trump.

Jul. 14, 2005	Announced he would not run for re-election.
Nov. 28, 2005	Pleaded guilty.
Nov. 28, 2005	Resigned.
Jan. 20, 2021	Pardoned by President Trump.

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Cunningham is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2006 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 Cunningham sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2001 to Dec 8, 2006. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Cunningham was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:

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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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Cunningham sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (20%) Law (15%) Commerce (13%) Crime and Law Enforcement (13%) Science, Technology, Communications (12%) Environmental Protection (10%) Energy (9%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (9%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Cunningham recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1991 to Nov 2005, Cunningham missed 238 of 8,620 roll call votes, which is 2.8%. This is on par with the median of 2.9% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Nov 2005. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1991 Jan-Mar	62	1	1.6%	34^th
1991 Apr-Jun	139	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Jul-Sep	81	1	1.2%	15^th
1991 Oct-Nov	162	2	1.2%	26^th
1992 Jan-Mar	66	9	13.6%	89^th
1992 Apr-Jun	185	5	2.7%	45^th
1992 Jul-Sep	196	12	6.1%	77^th
1992 Oct-Oct	41	4	9.8%	82^nd
1993 Jan-Mar	127	3	2.4%	52^nd
1993 Apr-Jun	190	5	2.6%	51^st
1993 Jul-Sep	164	6	3.7%	76^th
1993 Oct-Nov	134	1	0.7%	27^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	2	2.1%	39^th
1994 Apr-Jun	219	2	0.9%	29^th
1994 Jul-Sep	142	3	2.1%	45^th
1994 Oct-Nov	51	1	2.0%	50^th
1995 Jan-Mar	279	2	0.7%	39^th
1995 Apr-Jun	189	1	0.5%	19^th
1995 Jul-Sep	232	1	0.4%	19^th
1995 Oct-Dec	185	1	0.5%	21^st
1996 Jan-Mar	110	2	1.8%	50^th
1996 Apr-Jun	182	5	2.7%	55^th
1996 Jul-Sep	163	1	0.6%	21^st
1997 Jan-Mar	71	0	0.0%	0^th
1997 Apr-Jun	174	1	0.6%	18^th
1997 Jul-Sep	232	2	0.9%	28^th
1997 Oct-Nov	163	2	1.2%	30^th
1998 Jan-Mar	89	3	3.4%	62^nd
1998 Apr-Jun	185	1	0.5%	19^th
1998 Jul-Sep	199	39	19.6%	98^th
1998 Oct-Dec	74	3	4.1%	68^th
1999 Jan-Mar	77	0	0.0%	0^th
1999 Apr-Jun	184	7	3.8%	72^nd
1999 Jul-Sep	204	5	2.5%	62^nd
1999 Oct-Nov	146	1	0.7%	20^th
2000 Jan-Mar	95	5	5.3%	63^rd
2000 Apr-Jun	277	6	2.2%	45^th
2000 Jul-Sep	130	2	1.5%	42^nd
2000 Oct-Dec	101	4	4.0%	34^th
2001 Jan-Mar	75	2	2.7%	50^th
2001 Apr-Jun	135	5	3.7%	68^th
2001 Jul-Sep	149	0	0.0%	0^th
2001 Oct-Dec	153	1	0.7%	19^th
2002 Jan-Mar	79	0	0.0%	0^th
2002 Apr-Jun	203	5	2.5%	46^th
2002 Jul-Sep	141	6	4.3%	64^th
2002 Oct-Nov	61	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Jan-Mar	94	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Apr-Jun	239	6	2.5%	54^th
2003 Jul-Sep	193	1	0.5%	18^th
2003 Oct-Dec	151	2	1.3%	28^th
2004 Jan-Mar	104	9	8.7%	77^th
2004 Apr-Jun	221	5	2.3%	46^th
2004 Jul-Sep	161	0	0.0%	0^th
2004 Oct-Dec	58	3	5.2%	62^nd
2005 Jan-Mar	90	6	6.7%	75^th
2005 Apr-Jun	272	5	1.8%	47^th
2005 Jul-Sep	146	16	11.0%	90^th
2005 Oct-Dec	100	15	15.0%	94^th

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
Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills