Cárdenas is the representative for California’s 29th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Cárdenas is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
![Photo of Rep. Tony Cárdenas [D-CA29]](/static/legislator-photos/412517-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Cárdenas.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Cárdenas 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 Cárdenas has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Feb 26, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Cárdenas was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 1253 (116th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 13507 Van Nuys Boulevard in Pacoima, California, as the “Ritchie Valens Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 1252 (116th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6531 Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys, California, as the “Marilyn Monroe Post Office”.
- H.R. 1925 (115th): At-Risk Youth Medicaid Protection Act of 2018
Does 3 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
Cárdenas sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Crime and Law Enforcement (25%) Health (23%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (15%) Commerce (11%) Transportation and Public Works (8%) Energy (8%) Education (6%) Government Operations and Politics (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Cárdenas’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 1400: To establish and support public awareness campaigns to address COVID-19-related health disparities and ...
- H.R. 1331: To amend the Public Health Service Act to reduce health inequities experienced by ...
- H.R. 1219: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the age requirement ...
- H.R. 1194: To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to ...
- H.R. 918: To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to allow States to ...
- H.R. 798: To require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to study the effect of the ...
- H.R. 691: To expand opportunities for pre-apprenticeships programs.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2013 to Feb 2021, Cárdenas missed 298 of 4,742 roll call votes, which is 6.3%. This is much worse than the median of 2.0% 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
