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 Jun 8, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Tony Cárdenas sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Cárdenas was the primary sponsor of 4 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. 1009 (116th): National Evaluation of Techniques for Making Energy Technologies More Efficient and Resilient Act of 2019
- H.R. 1925 (115th): At-Risk Youth Medicaid Protection Act of 2018
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
Cárdenas sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (27%) Crime and Law Enforcement (24%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (14%) Commerce (10%) Energy (7%) Transportation and Public Works (7%) Education (6%) Environmental Protection (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Cárdenas’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 3753: To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide grant funding to States ...
- H.R. 3752: To require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to study the effect of the ...
- H.R. 3568: To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to provide assistance ...
- H.R. 3335: To amend the Wire Act to clarify that gambling on commercial greyhound racing ...
- H.R. 3182: To provide that inclined sleepers for infants and crib bumpers shall be considered ...
- H.R. 2869: To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a demonstration ...
- H.Res. 350: Expressing support for the designation of April 2021 as “Second Chance Month”.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2013 to May 2021, Cárdenas missed 302 of 4,849 roll call votes, which is 6.2%. 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
