Joaquin Castro

14 years in the U.S. Congress · since 2013

• Representative TX-20 2013–present

• background Born September 16, 1974; a lawyer and Democrat; native of San Antonio, Texas
• background Texas House of Representatives (125th district) from 2003 to 2013; served as vice-chair of Higher Education Committee
• role U.S. House Representative for Texas's 20th congressional district (San Antonio area) since 2013
• role Serves on Foreign Affairs Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
• background Identical twin brother is Julian Castro; served as his campaign chair during 2020 presidential campaign
• achievement Ranked by Vanderbilt/UVA Center for Effective Lawmaking as most effective House Democrat in 119th Congress (2023-25)

Assembled from Congress.gov · FEC · official disclosures — each fact links its own source

These are verifiable facts from the public record, assembled in one place and presented without judgment. They are not a score, a grade, or a ranking. Context matters: a missed vote may be excused, on leadership or committee duty, or paired; a party-unity rate reflects agenda alignment, not virtue or independence; a disclosed trade or a documented relationship is a required public filing, not evidence of wrongdoing. Each fact links to its full source below.

• 96.4%
  Roll-call participation →

  voted in 619 recorded roll calls · chamber median 100.0%

  Missing a vote is not inherently negative — an absence can be excused, reflect leadership or committee duty, or a recorded pairing.

• 22
  Bills sponsored →

  plus 256 cosponsored

  A count of bills introduced as the primary sponsor; most legislation never advances, regardless of who sponsors it.

• 0
  Sponsored bills enacted →

  of 22 bills sponsored

  Whether a bill becomes law depends on the whole Congress, not the sponsor alone; substantive provisions often pass folded into other vehicles.

• 100%
  Party-unity voting →

  votes with the party majority · median 99% · on 428 party-line votes

  Party-unity is how often a member votes with their own party's majority on party-line votes — it reflects agenda alignment, not loyalty, independence, or virtue.

• 0%
  Cross-party voting →

  votes with the other party's majority on those same votes

  The share of the same party-line votes cast with the OTHER party's majority — a descriptive rate, not a measure of principle.

• 0
  Documented positions →

  no positions documented yet

  Documented, sourced positions we have on record — the absence of a documented position is not the absence of a view.

• 7
  Committee assignments →

  committees and subcommittees

  Committee seats are assignments made by party leadership — a measure of role and jurisdiction, not an achievement or a conflict in itself.

Assembled from CivicGate's ingested public records for Joaquin Castro. A fact shown as “—” means we don't yet hold that data — not that the value is zero.

Data from Congress.gov roll-call records

Data from Congress.gov committee memberships

• Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member
• Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Ranking Member
• Foreign Affairs Committee
• Intelligence (Permanent Select) Committee
• Central Intelligence Agency Subcommittee
• East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee
• National Security Agency and Cyber Subcommittee

Data from FEC — PAC (political action committee) contributions, 2026/2024/2022 cycles

Total disclosed PAC money: $590,413. Industry is approximated from a curated map; individual (non-PAC) donations are listed separately above.

• Health $25,000 · 4 PACs
• Defense $20,000 · 3 PACs
• Telecom $6,000 · 4 PACs
• Finance $5,500 · 3 PACs
• Technology $3,000 · 3 PACs
• Energy $1,000 · 1 PAC

Data from FEC, itemized campaign receipts

Data from FEC, Schedule E independent expenditures

Documented + CivicGate vote-derived — stated positions link their source; derived positions come from votes on direction-tagged bills

• AbortionPartial support from votes
• Civil RightsPartial support from votes
• Climate & EnergyPartial support from votes
• Criminal JusticePartial oppose from votes
• DefensePartial support from votes
• Economy & TaxesPartial support from votes
• Foreign PolicyPartial oppose from votes
• Gun PolicyPartial oppose from votes
• HealthcarePartial support from votes
• HousingPartial oppose from votes
• ImmigrationPartial support from votes
• Labor & WagesPartial support from votes
• Technology & PrivacyPartial support from votes
• Voting & ElectionsFull support from votes

Data from Stock Watcher / official disclosures

Data from Congress.gov

The members Castro most often co-sponsors bills with — their legislative coalition.

Data from Congress.gov · FEC

How Castro connects to other members, committees, and PACs — drawn only from ingested records.

Data from Congress.gov