Sewell is the representative for Alabama’s 7th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 5, 2011. Sewell is next up for reelection in 2020 and serves until Jan 3, 2021 unless re-elected.
![Photo of Rep. Terri Sewell [D-AL7]](/static/legislator-photos/412396-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2019 Report Card for Sewell.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Sewell 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 Sewell has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Sep 22, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Terri Sewell sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Sewell was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 2147: RURAL Act of 2019
- H.R. 4777 (114th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1301 Alabama Avenue in Selma, Alabama as the “Amelia Boynton Robinson Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 431 (114th): To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Foot Soldiers who participated in Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, or the final Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March in ...
- H.R. 360 (113th): To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley to commemorate the lives they lost 50 years ago ...
Does 4 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
Sewell sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (34%) Taxation (28%) Government Operations and Politics (22%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (9%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Sewell’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 7659: Ensuring Parity in MA for Audio-Only Telehealth Act of 2020
- H.R. 5989: Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area Act
- H.R. 5856: Decentralized Wastewater Grant Act of 2020
- H.R. 5741: Strengthening Innovation in Medicare and Medicaid Act
- H.R. 5307: To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 115 ...
- H.R. 5254: Diabetic Vision Loss and Blindness Prevention Act of 2019
- H.R. 5172: NOPAIN Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2011 to Sep 2020, Sewell missed 256 of 6,247 roll call votes, which is 4.1%. This is worse than the median of 2.2% 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.
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
