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Rep. Robin Kelly’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from Illinois's 2nd District
Democrat
Serving Apr 9, 2013 – Jan 3, 2025

These year-end statistics cover Kelly’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare her to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.

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 Kelly’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.

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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 2nd lowest % of bills compared to Illinois Delegation (tied with 1 other)

Kelly tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 17% of Kelly’s 12 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (11th percentile); House Sophomores (14th percentile); House Democrats (22nd percentile); Safe House Seats (16th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile).

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

Was 3rd most absent in votes compared to House Sophomores

Kelly missed 9.2% of votes (65 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Kelly’s Profile »

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (78th percentile); House Sophomores (96th percentile); Safe House Seats (95th percentile); All Representatives (95th 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 9th 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Kelly’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (17th percentile); House Sophomores (11th percentile); House Democrats (32nd percentile); Safe House Seats (16th percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile).

 

Got the 11th most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Sophomores

Kelly’s bills and resolutions had 333 cosponsors in 2015. 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 Illinois Delegation (67th percentile); House Sophomores (85th percentile); House Democrats (84th percentile); Safe House Seats (80th percentile); All Representatives (81st percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 22nd least often compared to House Democrats

Of the 187 bills that Kelly cosponsored, 19% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (39th percentile); House Sophomores (41st percentile); House Democrats (11th percentile); Safe House Seats (55th percentile); All Representatives (54th percentile).

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

Ranked the 33rd top leader 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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Kelly’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (78th percentile); House Sophomores (78th percentile); House Democrats (83rd percentile); Safe House Seats (68th percentile); All Representatives (69th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Kelly introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

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

A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Bills Introduced

Kelly introduced 12 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (50th percentile); House Sophomores (59th percentile); House Democrats (58th percentile); Safe House Seats (58th percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Kelly introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.Res. 53: Condemning the cowardly attacks on …

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (61st percentile); House Sophomores (49th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

2 of Kelly’s bills and resolutions in 2015 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. 53: Condemning the cowardly attacks on …; H.R. 226: Keeping Guns from High Risk …

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (39th percentile); House Sophomores (52nd percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Kelly’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. 2636: Petroleum Coke Transparency and Public …

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (39th percentile); House Sophomores (26th percentile); House Democrats (30th percentile); Safe House Seats (29th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Kelly held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Kelly’s Profile »

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (50th percentile); House Sophomores (64th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile).

 

Bills Cosponsored

Kelly cosponsored 187 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 Illinois Delegation (39th percentile); House Sophomores (42nd percentile); House Democrats (32nd percentile); Safe House Seats (57th percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Kelly supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Kelly 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Kelly cosponsored H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 3838: Fairness in Incarcerated Representation Act

Compare to all Illinois Delegation (50th percentile); House Sophomores (62nd percentile); House Democrats (31st percentile); Safe House Seats (62nd percentile); All Representatives (65th 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 2015) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.