Capito is the junior senator from West Virginia and is a Republican. She has served since Jan 6, 2015. Capito is next up for reelection in 2026 and serves until Jan 3, 2027. She is 69 years old.
She was previously the representative for West Virginia’s 2nd congressional district as a Republican from 2001 to 2014.
![Photo of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito [R-WV]](/static/legislator-photos/400061-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Capito is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate 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 Capito has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 24, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Capito was the primary sponsor of 12 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 539 (117th): A bill to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a report on the use of video cameras for patient safety and law enforcement …
- S. 4075 (116th): RLF Act
- S. 2582 (116th): Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2020
- S. 2555 (116th): New River Gorge National Park and Preserve Designation Act
- S. 1507 (116th): PFAS Release Disclosure and Protection Act of 2019
- S. 1190 (116th): Rural Access to Hospice Act of 2019
- S. 94 (116th): Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act
Does 12 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
Capito sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (39%) Science, Technology, Communications (20%) Environmental Protection (15%) Taxation (7%) Emergency Management (6%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Capito recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 5291 (117th): A bill to delay the implementation of the modifications of exceptions for …
- S. 5238: Medicaid and CHIP Access to Prescription Digital Therapeutics Act
- S. 4851: National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act
- S. 4815: START Act
- S. 4126: Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2022
- S. 3998: Real Emergencies Act
- S. 3791: Access to Prescription Digital Therapeutics Act of 2022
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2015 to Dec 2022, Capito missed 79 of 2,769 roll call votes, which is 2.9%. This is on par with the median of 2.4% among the lifetime records of senators 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, major life events, and running for higher office.
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
