Sheldon Whitehouse
Democrat
· RI Senate · 119th Congress
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (Chair) · Agency Action (Chair) · and Federal Rights (Chair) · United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control (Chair) · Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe · Waste Management · Environmental Justice · and Regulatory Oversight · and Nuclear Innovation and Safety · and Nuclear Safety · and Wildlife · and Water · Senate Committee on Finance · Natural Resources · and Infrastructure · and Global Competitiveness · Senate Committee on the Budget · Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Federal Rights and Federal Courts · and the Law
Influence Score
73.4
Highly exposed
↑ +2.1
vs 118th (71.1)
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This score measures financial influence across twelve categories. Each bar shows how this member compares to all others in Congress. Longer bars mean more exposure.
Score breakdown — twelve categories
Contributionsmoney from PACs (political action committees) and individual donors
3.1
/ 12
Outside spendingmoney spent by groups to help elect them
< 0.1
/ 6
Spent to help elect them
$346
Outside groups that spent to help elect this member — this drives the outside-spending bar above
Spent to defeat this member
$82,828
Outside groups that spent to defeat this member (not counted in this score)
Lobbyinghow hard lobbyists push the committees this member sits on
10.0
/ 10
Vote alignmenthow often they vote the way their donors want
7.5
/ 12
Contribution timingmoney arriving near key votes
0.9
/ 6
Stock tradesbuying stocks in industries they regulate
0.0
/ 1
Dark moneyfunding from groups that hide their donors
0.0
/ 2
Outbound money distributionmoney this member sends out to the party and to colleagues
11.6
/ 16
Cluster network breadthhow many coordinated funding networks back this member
4.1
/ 10
Committee jurisdiction powerthe legislative reach of the committees this member sits on
10.0
/ 10
Foreign interestforeign-interest money — Israel-policy PACs and FARA-registered institutional lobbying allocated by committee jurisdiction
8.7
/ 12
Israel-policy PACs behind this score
AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
$32,353 direct
CITIZENS ORGANIZED POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
$10,000 direct
JSTREETPAC
$6,140 direct
FARA institutional lobbying
This member’s committees are targeted by $201.09M in lobbying from FARA-registered firms representing South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia. This exposure is weighted at 0.2% of face value in the score — $402K.
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Score across four congresses
Score and tier for each Congress. Members are ranked against others in the same Congress, so tiers are comparable across rows. Raw scores reflect different data availability per Congress.
| Congress | Score | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| 116th · 2019-2021 | 81.8 | Most exposed |
| 117th · 2021-2023 | 50.6 | Moderately exposed |
| 118th · 2023-2025 | 71.1 | Highly exposed |
| 119th · 2025-2027 | 73.2 | Highly exposed |
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Biggest funding source
The single network behind the most money and influence
Network
VOTE FOR EQUALITY
Total money from this network
$23,000
Number of funding networks contributing
1
— ◊ —
Where most of the money comes from
What share of their combined contributions and outside spending comes from a single network. Party committees are excluded.
Share from this one network
3.5%
Amount from this network
$32,353
Total from all networks
$910,326
Networks contributing
160
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Who funds Whitehouse
Every funding network we can measure, ranked by influence
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Does the money match their power?
Whether their money comes from the industries their committees actually oversee
Money from industries they regulate
0.5%
Extra weight when money matches their committees
2.00×
Share of outside spending tied to their policy areas
100.0%
— ◊ —
Money timed to key votes
Donations arriving near key votes in the policy areas this member regulates
Times money arrived near a vote
14
Money that arrived near votes
$39K
Distinct donors
24
Distinct employers
11
Share of their total fundraising
0.72%
Biggest clusters of timed money
GENERATION INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
$7K
JANE STREET CAPITAL
$7K
JANE STREET CAPITAL
$7K
BRISTOL MARINE
$4K
CUNEO GILBERT LADUCA LLP
$3K
MORGAN STANLEY
$2K
BRISTOL MARINE
$2K
PIONEER PUBLIC AFFAIRS
$2K
HOSPITAL OF RI
$1K
CONSOLIDATED INVESTMENT
$1K
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Top Donors
Biggest sources of contributions, grouped by employer, this cycle
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
$6.43M
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
$6.33M
UNITED AIRLINES
$1.31M
AMGEN
$1.27M
USPS
$1.24M
COZEN O CONNOR
$1.17M
AMERICAN AIRLINES
$943K
UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASN
$870K
BROWNSTEIN HYATT FARBER SCHRECK
$839K
GREENBERG TRAURIG
$772K
FLORIDA POWER LIGHT
$733K
AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER FELD LLP
$686K
GREENBERG TRAURIG
$666K
MARTIN MARIETTA
$593K
AFSCME INT L
$564K
MARTIN MARIETTA
$549K
DELTA AIR LINES
$542K
OMAHA FIRE DEPT
$465K
BAKER TILLY US LLP
$456K
INT L OF MACHINISTS
$446K
Where the outside money comes from
How much of the outside spending for and against Sheldon Whitehouse comes from groups that disclose their donors versus groups that hide them
By funding network
ROOSEVELT SOCIETY ACTION
$83K
ENVIRONMENT AMERICA ACTION FUND
$336
DEMOCRACY PAC
$70
SIERRA CLUB INDEPENDENT ACTION
$20
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Pro-Israel network donors
This counts contributions to this member from individuals whose FEC filings also show contributions to one of the 16 pro-Israel political action committees tracked by the Index. It is a measure of donor overlap — not a claim about why any individual gave, and not part of the influence score.
132 individuals who also gave to pro-Israel PACs contributed $447K to Sheldon Whitehouse across 166 contributions.
Total from shared contributors
$447K
Shared contributors
132
Contributions
166
By cycle
| Cycle | Shared donors | Gifts | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2 | 4 | $6K |
| 2024 | 130 | 157 | $438K |
| 2026 | 4 | 5 | $3K |
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Revolving Door
7 former staff members
who worked for Sheldon Whitehouse or the committees they serve are now registered lobbyists.
| Lobbyist | Former position | Firm | Clients | Filings | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RICHARD VAN BUREN | Leg. Correspondent, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse; Assoc. Leg. Assistant, Leg. Assista… | COZEN O'CONNOR PUBLIC STRATEGIES | 14 | 38 | 2024–2025 |
| CHARLES GARRISON | Senior Counsel, Senate Judiciary Committee, Office of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse… | HOGAN LOVELLS US LLP | 13 | 88 | 2023–2025 |
| SAMUEL GOODSTEIN | Chief of Staff - Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) | VENN STRATEGIES | 4 | 5 | 2023–2025 |
| RAVEN GRAF | Legislative correspondent to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse | BOUNDARY STONE PARTNERS | 2 | 2 | 2023–2023 |
| CHASE KROLL | Senior Counsel, Senate Judiciary Committee, Office of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse… | HOGAN LOVELLS US LLP | 1 | 1 | 2023–2024 |
| ROBERT CLARK | Senator Whitehouse | PYXIS PARTNERS, LLC | 1 | 2 | 2023–2025 |
| KATHLEEN O'NEILL | Aide, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) | THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN | 1 | 5 | 2023–2025 |
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Sheldon Whitehouse's file shows clear influence markers across multiple categories for the top funding network, placing them in the upper range of this Congress. The pattern runs above what coincidence would produce, and the methodology page documents what each category requires.
Data: FEC (Federal Election Commission) filings · 118th–119th Congress · lobbying disclosures · VoteView recorded votes
All findings derived programmatically from public records · No prior knowledge required
All findings derived programmatically from public records · No prior knowledge required