Former senator · Vermont
Patrick J. Leahy
Patrick J. Leahy served in Congress from 1975 to 2023, last as a Democratic senator from Vermont. In the 117th Congress, 949 roll calls were held while they served; they missed 63, and cast 715 of 716 party-unity votes with the majority of their caucus.
- Party
- Democrat
- Chamber
- Senate
- Former
- In Congress since
- Jan 14, 1975
- Last term ended
- Jan 3, 2023
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.
| Congress | Roll calls | Missed | Votes with party | Sponsored | Cosponsored across the aisle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 117th CongressSenate | 949 | 6.6%63 of 949 · rank 16 of 100 | 100%715 of 716 · rank 11 of 100 | 280 became law | 16%54 of 338 |
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 117th Congress (Senate), with each party's median and the chamber's range.
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.
No recorded vote against the party majority on bills or amendments in the loaded Congresses.
Recent votes
The latest roll calls on bills and amendments, with the member's recorded position.
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 93–4
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 90–6
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 88–8
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 92–5
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 73–24
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 40–57
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 44–53
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 47–50
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 10–87
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 47–50
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 34–63
- Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 34–63
Sponsored bills
Bills and resolutions the member introduced as sponsor in the loaded Congresses. Volume is not quality: most measures never leave committee.
28 sponsored · 0 became law
How far they got
- Introduced2382%
- Passed one chamber27.1%
- Passed both chambers311%
Policy areas
- Commerce5
- Congress4
- Crime and Law Enforcement3
- Government Operations and Politics3
- Public Lands and Natural Resources2
- Agriculture and Food1
- Animals1
- Armed Forces and National Security1
Latest activity
- S.Con.Res. 52 A concurrent resolution providing for a correction in the enrollment of H.R. 4373.Passed both chambers· Congress· Dec 23, 2022
- S.Con.Res. 51 A concurrent resolution providing for a correction in the enrollment of H.R. 2617.Passed both chambers· Congress· Dec 23, 2022
- S. 5353 Refugee Protection Act of 2022Introduced· Immigration· Dec 21, 2022
- S. 2773 Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022Passed one chamber· Commerce· Dec 7, 2022
- S.Res. 830 A resolution expressing support for the designation of the week of October 24, 2022, to October 31, 2022, as "Bat Week".Introduced· Animals· Nov 14, 2022
- S.Con.Res. 45 A concurrent resolution providing for a correction in the enrollment of H.R. 6833.Passed both chambers· Congress· Sep 30, 2022
- S. 4916 Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act of 2022Introduced· Families· Sep 21, 2022
- S. 4807 Nulhegan River and Paul Stream Wild and Scenic River Study Act of 2022Introduced· Public Lands and Natural Resources· Sep 8, 2022
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.
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.
2022 cycle
- Raised
- $1M
- through Dec 31, 2022
- Cash on hand
- $1.3M
- From committees
- $314.9K
- 108 committees
- From contractor PACs
- $44.5K
- 22 PACs · 14% of committee money
Largest gifts from PACs of federal contractors, 2022
| PAC sponsor | Given | Matched contract recipient | Its contracts, FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| american dental associationamerican dental association political action committee | $5,000 | AMERICAN DENTAL ASSOCIATIONAI match · 98% · the same organization | $78.5K |
| general motors companygeneral motors company political action committee (gm pac) | $5,000 | GENERAL MOTORS LLCAI match · 100% · of one corporate family | $652.9M |
| lockheed martin corporationlockheed martin corporation employees' political action committee | $5,000 | LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATIONAI match · 100% · the same organization | $13.3B |
| general electric companygeneral electric company political action committee (gepac) | $4,000 | GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANYAI match · 98% · the same organization | $636.3M |
| comcast corporationcomcast corporation & nbcuniversal political action committee - federal | $4,000 | COMCAST CABLE COMMUNICATIONS, LLCAI match · 100% · of one corporate family | $453.1K |
| national association of broadcastersnational association of broadcasters political action committee (nabpac) | $3,000 | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERSAI match · 100% · the same organization | $0 |
| huntington ingalls industries, inc.huntington ingalls industries, inc. employees political action committee (hiipac) | $3,000 | HUNTINGTON INGALLS INCAI match · 100% · of one corporate family | $3.1B |
| ball corporationball corporation political action committee | $2,500 | BALL AEROSPACE & TECHNOLOGIES CORP.AI match · 99% · of one corporate family | -$182.3K |
| northrop grumman corporationemployees of northrop grumman corporation pac | $2,500 | NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATIONAI match · 100% · of one corporate family | $1.1B |
| general atomicsgeneral atomics political action committee | $2,500 | GENERAL ATOMICSAI match · 95% · the same organization | — |
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.
- Senate · VermontJan 3, 2017 – Jan 3, 2023
- Senate · VermontJan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2017
- Senate · VermontJan 4, 2005 – Jan 3, 2011
- Senate · VermontJan 6, 1999 – Jan 3, 2005
- Senate · VermontJan 5, 1993 – Jan 3, 1999
- Senate · VermontJan 6, 1987 – Jan 3, 1993
- Senate · VermontJan 5, 1981 – Jan 3, 1987
- Senate · VermontJan 14, 1975 – Jan 3, 1981
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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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.