Richard J. Durbin

44 years in the U.S. Congress · since 1983

• Senator IL 1997–present
• Representative IL-20 1983–1997

• role Senior United States senator from Illinois since 1997
• role Senate Democratic whip since 2005, the second-highest Senate Democratic leadership position
• achievement Longest-serving Senate party whip in U.S. history
• role Served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1997, representing Illinois's 20th district
• role Chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2021 to 2025
• background Born in East St. Louis, Illinois; graduated from Georgetown University and its Law Center

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.

• 100.0%
  Roll-call participation →

  voted in 30 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.

• 139
  Bills sponsored →

  plus 512 cosponsored

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

• 0
  Sponsored bills enacted →

  of 139 bills sponsored

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

• 64%
  Party-unity voting →

  votes with the party majority · median 100% · on 11 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.

• 36%
  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.

• 12
  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 Richard J. Durbin. A fact shown as “—” means we don't yet hold that data — not that the value is zero.

Data from senate.gov roll-call records

Data from Congress.gov committee memberships

• Crime and Counterterrorism Subcommittee Ranking Member
• Judiciary Committee Ranking Member · oversees Technology
• Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
• Appropriations Committee
• Department of Defense Subcommittee
• Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee · oversees Health
• Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee · oversees Finance
• Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, and Food Safety Subcommittee
• State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee
• Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee
• Commodities, Derivatives, Risk Management, and Trade Subcommittee
• Energy and Water Development Subcommittee · oversees Energy

Data from FEC, itemized campaign receipts

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

• DefenseOppose from votes
• Economy & TaxesFull support from votes
• Foreign PolicyPartial support from votes

Data from Stock Watcher / official disclosures

Data from Congress.gov

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

Data from Congress.gov · FEC

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

Data from Congress.gov