Maria Cantwell, Senator for Washington - GovTrack.us
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Sen. Maria Cantwell

Senator for Washington

pronounced muh-REE-uh // KANT-wel

Cantwell is the junior senator from Washington and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 3, 2001. Cantwell is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. She is 65 years old.

She was previously the representative for Washington’s 1st congressional district as a Democrat from 1993 to 1994.

Photo of Sen. Maria Cantwell [D-WA]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Cantwell.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Cantwell 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 Cantwell has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to May 2, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Maria Cantwell sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Cantwell was the primary sponsor of 28 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 28 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

Cantwell sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Transportation and Public Works (27%) Science, Technology, Communications (15%) Taxation (15%) Commerce (15%) Sports and Recreation (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%) Native Americans (6%) Energy (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Cantwell recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Cantwell voted Yea

Cantwell voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 71/28 on Feb 9, 2018.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of funding for the federal government through March 23, 2018, to avert a government shutdown that would have …

Cantwell voted Yea

Bill Passed 72/26 on Sep 28, 2016.
The Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325) is an appropriations …

Cantwell voted Yea

Motion Agreed to 60/38 on Jun 24, 2015.
This was the Senate's final vote on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal currently being negotiated. H.R. 2146 was originally …

Cantwell voted Yea

Joint Resolution Passed 78/22 on Sep 18, 2014.

Cantwell voted Yea

Motion Agreed to 81/19 on Dec 15, 2010.
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, H.R. 4853, 124 Stat. 3296, enacted December 17, 2010), also known …

Missed Votes

From Jan 2001 to May 2024, Cantwell missed 56 of 7,718 roll call votes, which is 0.7%. This is better than the median of 2.8% 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.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: