Terri Sewell, Representative for Alabama's 7th Congressional District

Sewell is the representative for Alabama’s 7^th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 5, 2011. Sewell is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 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 3, 2017 to May 14, 2021. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 100% Human Rights Campaign: 97% League of Conservation Voters: 80% United States Chamber of Commerce: 80% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: D The Club for Growth: 8%

Committee Membership

Terri Sewell sits on the following committees:

House Committee on Ways and Means

Enacted Legislation

Sewell was the primary sponsor of 6 bills that were enacted:

View All »

Does 6 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

Sewell sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (41%) Taxation (32%) Government Operations and Politics (18%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (9%)

Recent Bills

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

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Sewell voted Nay

H.R. 1595: Secure And Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019

Passed 321/103 on Sep 25, 2019.

Sewell voted Aye

H.R. 1917: Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns Act of 2017

Passed 234/180 on Mar 7, 2018.

H.R. 1917 addresses the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Brick and Structural Clay Products Manufacturing and for ...

Sewell voted No

S. 612: A bill to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, ...

Passed 360/61 on Dec 8, 2016.

The WIIN (Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation) Act was a 277-page bill dealing with federal water policies, particularly for drought-stricken areas. It’s so complex ...

Sewell voted Yea

H.R. 4557: Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns Act of 2016

Passed 238/163 on Mar 3, 2016.

Sewell voted Aye

H.R. 2146: Defending Public Safety Employees’ Retirement Act

Passed 218/208 on Jun 18, 2015.

This vote made H.R. 2146 the vehicle for passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal currently being negotiated. H.R. ...

Sewell 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 ...

Sewell 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 ...

Sewell voted Aye

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

Passed 319/108 on Sep 17, 2014.

Sewell voted Aye

H.R. 1526 (113th): Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act

Passed 244/173 on Sep 20, 2013.

Sewell voted Aye

H.R. 6233 (112th): Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2012

Passed 223/197 on Aug 2, 2012.

Sewell voted No

H.R. 2218 (112th): Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act

Passed 365/54 on Sep 13, 2011.

Sewell 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 ...

Missed Votes

From Jan 2011 to May 2021, Sewell missed 259 of 6,443 roll call votes, which is 4.0%. This is worse than the median of 2.1% 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
2011 Jan-Mar	212	1	0.5%	22^nd
2011 Apr-Jun	281	10	3.6%	81^st
2011 Jul-Sep	247	2	0.8%	30^th
2011 Oct-Dec	208	7	3.4%	64^th
2012 Jan-Mar	151	4	2.6%	61^st
2012 Apr-Jun	299	6	2.0%	55^th
2012 Jul-Sep	152	19	12.5%	94^th
2012 Nov-Dec	51	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Jan	5	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	89	4	4.5%	71^st
2013 Apr-Jun	215	3	1.4%	41^st
2013 Jul-Sep	200	2	1.0%	41^st
2013 Oct-Dec	137	8	5.8%	80^th
2014 Jan-Mar	148	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Apr-Jun	219	3	1.4%	45^th
2014 Jul-Sep	147	10	6.8%	87^th
2014 Nov-Dec	49	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jan-Mar	144	10	6.9%	85^th
2015 Apr-Jun	244	11	4.5%	83^rd
2015 Jul-Sep	139	18	12.9%	93^rd
2015 Oct-Dec	177	9	5.1%	87^th
2016 Jan-Mar	137	6	4.4%	56^th
2016 Apr-Jun	204	16	7.8%	84^th
2016 Jul-Sep	232	13	5.6%	89^th
2016 Nov-Dec	48	4	8.3%	91^st
2017 Jan-Mar	208	5	2.4%	67^th
2017 Apr-Jun	136	1	0.7%	31^st
2017 Jul-Sep	199	1	0.5%	36^th
2017 Oct-Dec	167	9	5.4%	82^nd
2018 Jan-Mar	129	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Apr-Jun	184	44	23.9%	99^th
2018 Jul-Sep	102	2	2.0%	55^th
2018 Nov-Dec	85	1	1.2%	35^th
2019 Jan-Mar	136	2	1.5%	51^st
2019 Apr-Jun	294	1	0.3%	21^st
2019 Jul-Sep	125	1	0.8%	55^th
2019 Oct-Dec	146	2	1.4%	51^st
2020 Jan-Mar	102	21	20.6%	96^th
2020 Apr-Jun	31	0	0.0%	0^th
2020 Jul-Sep	80	0	0.0%	0^th
2020 Oct-Dec	40	0	0.0%	0^th
2021 Jan-Mar	97	3	3.1%	77^th
2021 Apr-May	47	0	0.0%	0^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
GPO Member Guide for the photo
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills

Rep. Terri Sewell

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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

Sewell voted Nay

Sewell voted Aye

Sewell voted No

Sewell voted Yea

Sewell voted Aye

Sewell voted Yea

Sewell voted Yea

Sewell voted Aye

Sewell voted Aye

Sewell voted Aye

Sewell voted No

Sewell voted Aye

Missed Votes

Primary Sources