Rep. Beto O’Rourke
Former Representative for Texas’s 16th District
pronounced BEH-toh // oh-RAWRK
O’Rourke was the representative for Texas’s 16th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 2013 to 2018.
![Photo of Rep. Beto O’Rourke [D-TX16, 2013-2018]](/static/legislator-photos/412575-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for O’Rourke.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
O’Rourke is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2018 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 O’Rourke sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2013 to Dec 21, 2018. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
O’Rourke was the primary sponsor of 2 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 5873 (114th): To designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 511 East San Antonio Avenue in El Paso, Texas, as the “R.E. Thomason Federal Building and …
- H.R. 1265 (113th): To require the continuation of tuition assistance programs for members of the Armed Forces for the remainder of fiscal year 2013.
Does 2 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
O’Rourke sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Armed Forces and National Security (51%) Immigration (16%) Government Operations and Politics (13%) Transportation and Public Works (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
O’Rourke recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5619 (115th): Emergency Port of Entry Personnel and Infrastructure Funding Act of 2018
- H.R. 4130 (115th): Mandatory Arbitration Transparency Act of 2017
- H.R. 3943 (115th): Protecting the Property Rights of Border Landowners Act
- H.R. 3695 (115th): Protect DREAMer Confidentiality Act of 2017
- H.R. 3020 (115th): Border Enforcement Accountability, Oversight, and Community Engagement Act of 2017
- H.Res. 366 (115th): Recognizing and commemorating St. Joseph’s School and their service to the El …
- H.R. 2596 (115th): Castner Range National Monument Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2013 to Dec 2018, O’Rourke missed 113 of 3,739 roll call votes, which is 3.0%. This is on par with the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2018. 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. Legislators running for president or vice president typically miss votes while on the campaign trail — that’s normal. See our analysis of presidential candidates’ missed votes.
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
