Former representative · Maryland's 3rd district

John P. Sarbanes

John P. Sarbanes served in Congress from 2007 to 2025, last as a Democratic representative for Maryland's 3rd district. In the 118th Congress, 1,222 roll calls were held while they served; they missed 39, and cast 826 of 832 party-unity votes with the majority of their caucus.

Party
Democrat
Chamber
House
Former
In Congress since
Jan 4, 2007
Last term ended
Jan 3, 2025
Open in the Congress explorerOfficial record
Photo: Government Publishing Office (public domain)

Record by Congress

Counts with their denominators for each Congress and chamber served. Ranks are among members who served most of that Congress (100 or more roll calls): rank 1 did it most often. A description, not a grade.

CongressRoll callsMissedVotes with partySponsoredCosponsored across the aisle
118th CongressHouse of Representatives1,2223.2%39 of 1,222 · rank 166 of 44299%826 of 832 · rank 55 of 442110 became law14%35 of 242
117th CongressHouse of Representatives9970.5%5 of 997 · rank 318 of 44399%567 of 571 · rank 102 of 44380 became law3%10 of 293

Ideology (DW-NOMINATE)

Voteview's DW-NOMINATE first dimension estimates where members sit from all their roll calls: liberal (−1) to conservative (+1). It describes voting patterns, not views. Shown for the 118th Congress (House), with each party's median and the chamber's range.

Liberal −1−0.47+1 Conservative

Source: Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/

Votes against their party

The latest party-unity votes on bills and amendments where the member voted yea or nay against most of their caucus.

  1. H.R. 4639: Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale ActYea
    Apr 17, 2024· House· Passage· On Passage· Passed 219–199· Against party
  2. H.Res. 927: Condemning antisemitism on University campuses and the testimony of University Presidents in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.Yea
    Dec 13, 2023· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree· Passed 303–126· Against party
  3. H.R. 4394: Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024Nay
    Oct 26, 2023· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 121–299· Against party
  4. H.R. 4394: Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024Nay
    Oct 26, 2023· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 116–303· Against party
  5. H.R. 4665: Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024Nay
    Sep 28, 2023· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 195–236· Against party
  6. H.R. 1338: SAT Streamlining ActYea
    Jul 25, 2023· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended· Failed 250–163· Against party
  7. H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023Nay
    Jul 13, 2022· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 118–309· Against party
  8. H.R. 4350: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022Nay
    Sep 23, 2021· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 118–299· Against party

Recent votes

The latest roll calls on bills and amendments, with the member's recorded position.

  1. H.R. 10545: American Relief Act, 2025Yea
    Dec 20, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 366–34
  2. H.R. 10515: American Relief Act, 2025Nay
    Dec 19, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Failed 174–235
  3. S. 759: Beagle Brigade Act of 2023Yea
    Dec 18, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 381–20
  4. H.R. 8663: DETECT Fentanyl and Xylazine Act of 2024Yea
    Dec 18, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Concur in the Senate Amendments· Passed 404–1
  5. S. 3857: Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer ActYea
    Dec 18, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 369–37
  6. S. 1351: Stop Institutional Child Abuse ActYea
    Dec 18, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 373–33
  7. H.R. 1101: Lumbee Fairness ActNot voting
    Dec 17, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended· Passed 311–96
  8. S. 3448: Never Again Education Reauthorization Act of 2023Not voting
    Dec 17, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 402–12
  9. H.R. 115: Midnight Rules Relief ActNay
    Dec 17, 2024· House· Passage· On Passage· Passed 210–201
  10. S. 4077: A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 180 Steuart Street in San Francisco, California, as the "Dianne Feinstein Post Office".Yea
    Dec 16, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 348–39
  11. S. 141: Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement ActYea
    Dec 16, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 382–12
  12. S. 3998: Federal Judiciary Stabilization Act of 2024Yea
    Dec 16, 2024· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 390–0

Sponsored bills

Bills and resolutions the member introduced as sponsor in the loaded Congresses. Volume is not quality: most measures never leave committee.

19 sponsored · 0 became law

How far they got

  1. Introduced1684%
  2. Reported by committee211%
  3. Passed one chamber15.3%

Policy areas

  1. Government Operations and Politics7
  2. Environmental Protection5
  3. Health2
  4. Public Lands and Natural Resources2
  5. Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues1
  6. Labor and Employment1
  7. Law1

Latest activity

  1. H.R. 5380 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase data transparency for supplemental benefits under Medicare Advantage.
    Introduced· Health· Dec 17, 2024
  2. H.R. 11 Freedom to Vote Act
    Introduced· Government Operations and Politics· Dec 17, 2024
  3. H.R. 10403 Fair Access to Legal Counsel Act of 2024
    Introduced· Law· Dec 12, 2024
  4. H.R. 8572 Government by the People Act
    Introduced· Government Operations and Politics· May 24, 2024
  5. H.R. 8115 To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to allow for the deferral or disallowance of portions of payments for certain managed care violations under Medicaid.
    Introduced· Health· Apr 26, 2024
  6. H.R. 4770 Chesapeake Bay Science, Education, and Ecosystem Enhancement Act of 2023
    Reported by committee· Environmental Protection· Apr 2, 2024
  7. H.R. 7529 Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Reauthorization Act of 2024
    Introduced· Public Lands and Natural Resources· Mar 5, 2024
  8. H.R. 5813 Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act of 2023
    Introduced· Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues· Sep 28, 2023

Committees

Seats as published by the congress-legislators project. Past seats are those no longer listed since Analisa began recording them.

No committee seats are listed.

Federal contracts in the district

Contract obligations attributed to Maryland's 3rd district by each action's county and its award's ZIP code (land shares through census tracts); an estimate where ZIP codes cross district lines. Shown next to the member's record: neither explains the other.

Obligations · FY2026
$6.2B
Per resident
$7,946
Rank in Maryland
2 of 8
Contract actions
15.1K
New awards: 3,949

By fiscal year

  1. 3.7BFY2017
  2. 3.7BFY2018
  3. 4.3BFY2019
  4. 4.7BFY2020
  5. 4.8BFY2021
  6. 5.7BFY2022
  7. 6.3BFY2023
  8. 6.2BFY2024
  9. 6.5BFY2025
  10. 6.2BFY2026

Top buyers

  1. Federal Aviation Administration$1.3B22%
    Department of Transportation
  2. Department of the Navy$979.8M16%
    Department of Defense
  3. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services$555.7M8.9%
    Department of Homeland Security
  4. National Aeronautics and Space Administration$525.4M8.4%
  5. Department of the Air Force$457.1M7.4%
    Department of Defense
  6. Defense Contract Management Agency$349.4M5.6%
    Department of Defense
  7. Department of the Army$225.8M3.6%
    Department of Defense
  8. Department of Veterans Affairs$182.8M2.9%

Top recipients

  1. THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY LLC$1.7B28%
    754 awards
  2. ROHDE & SCHWARZ USA, INC.$661.3M11%
    49 awards
  3. FREQUENTIS USA, INC$618.9M10.0%
    6 awards
  4. NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION$529.4M8.5%
    62 awards
  5. NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION$203.8M3.3%
    258 awards
  6. GOVCIO, LLC$80.9M1.3%
    1 award
  7. COLOSSAL CONTRACTING LLC$80.8M1.3%
    208 awards
  8. PERATON ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS LLC$80.2M1.3%
    1 award
  9. TCOM, L.P.$70.7M1.1%
    7 awards
  10. ENLIGHTEN IT CONSULTING LLC$64.8M1.0%
    6 awards
Open the district page

Campaign money

What the member's campaigns reported receiving, per FEC two-year cycle, and the federal contracts of the organizations that sponsor the giving PACs (each sponsor matched to a contract recipient by AI, with its probability). Comparisons of public records: neither explains the other.

2026 cycle

Raised
$7,672
through Apr 13, 2026
Cash on hand
$0
From committees
$0
0 committees
From contractor PACs
$0
0 PACs · — of committee money
IndividualsPACsPartySelf

By cycle

CycleRaised (FEC summary)From committeesFrom contractor PACs
2026$7,672$0$00 PACs · — of committee money
2024$28.6K$3,000$00 PACs · 0% of committee money
2022$186.7K$5,514$00 PACs · 0% of committee money

Raised is the FEC's cumulative summary of the candidacy; committee money counts each contribution reported, so the two cover slightly different dates.

Terms

Every term in the House or Senate, as published by the congress-legislators project.

  1. House · Maryland's 3rd districtJan 3, 2023 – Jan 3, 2025
  2. House · Maryland's 3rd districtJan 3, 2021 – Jan 3, 2023
  3. House · Maryland's 3rd districtJan 3, 2019 – Jan 3, 2021
  4. House · Maryland's 3rd districtJan 3, 2017 – Jan 3, 2019
  5. House · Maryland's 3rd districtJan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2017
  6. House · Maryland's 3rd districtJan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2015
  7. House · Maryland's 3rd districtJan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2013
  8. House · Maryland's 3rd districtJan 6, 2009 – Jan 3, 2011
  9. House · Maryland's 3rd districtJan 4, 2007 – Jan 3, 2009

Identifiers

The same member in other public records.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Congressional district boundaries and relationship files (U.S. Census Bureau)U.S. Census Bureau, Cartographic Boundary Files (congressional districts) and 2020 relationship files · release cd116+cd118+cd119 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • ZIP code (ZCTA) to congressional district crosswalk (U.S. Census Bureau)U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 relationship files (ZCTAs, tracts and congressional districts); shares computed by Analisa · release 2020 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov)USAspending.gov, prime award contract transactions (FPDS) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Committees, candidates and committee contributions to candidates (Federal Election Commission)FEC bulk data: committee master, candidate master (candidates' names, no addresses), linkages, PAC summaries, all-candidates summaries and contributions from committees (no individual contributors) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Activity counts describe volume and attendance; they are not a measure of quality.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.