Bridge Grades uses a “forced curve" grading system.
Why? Our measure of how collaboratively or divisively one governs is a relative measure as there is no subjective “good” or “bad” level of collaboration. Instead we determine objectively who is more and who is less collaborative compared to their peers.
It follows then, that whenever any legislator’s score goes up, others, by definition, go down. And, this is exactly what has happened over the last month.
On May 1, 2026, we updated our rankings with fresh data to include legislative record and rhetoric analysis from the month of April. Here’s what we found.
There’s a surprising amount of change in the composition of Congress during any given term, but April was busier than ever.
In the Senate, Sen. Alan Armstrong replaced former Senater Markwayne Mullin in Oklahoma when Mullin was approved as Secretary of Homeland Security. We don’t include Armstrong, as his data record is not rich enough to include in the rankings.
In the House, there was much more action. Three House Reps resigned in disgrace in April including Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-14, D, Grade F), Rep. Tony Gonzales (TX-23, R, Grade B), and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20, D, Grade B). In addition, Rep. David Scott (GA-13, D, Grade B) passed away (may he rest in peace). For the May rankings, we remove all four.
In the meantime, two new Reps got sworn in including Rep. Clay Fuller (GA-14, R) and Rep. Analilia Mejia (D, NJ-11) who each won special elections. We do not include either in our rankings (not enough data).
Every time someone leaves either chamber, every other score shifts accordingly, given the relative scoring system we use. The constant coming and going of legislators keeps us on our toes as our rankings only include active members of Congress who have enough track record to compare.
Like Billboard charts, it’s fun to see who’s moving up, and who’s moving down based on the 3rd party objective data we compile.
By this point in the term (2/3 done now), the incremental data from one month shouldn’t generate all that much movement on an individual-by-individual basis. However, we do see movement.
The biggest jumper was Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07, R) who leaped 25 points in just one month thanks to sponsoring four bills in April which earned cross-party co-sponsorship—doubling his total of such bills for his term to date and vaulting him up in the rankings.
Other top risers across both chambers of Congress include: Rep. Tom Barrett (MI-07), Rep. Shomari Figures (AL-02), Rep. Scott Franklin (FL-18), Rep. Derek Schmidt (KS-02), Rep. Morgan McGarvey (KY-03), Rep. Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Sen. Ted Budd (NC), Rep. Michael R. Turner (OH-10), Rep. Elise M. Stefanik (NY-21), and Rep. Deborah K. Ross (NC-02).
Special kudos to the five members of Congress who improved their grade from a B to an A over this past month: Rep. Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), Rep. Monica De La Cruz (TX-15), Rep. Ashley Hinson (IA-02), Rep. Andrea Salinas (OR-06), and Rep. Kim Schrier (WA-08).
Here are the full results which can be downloaded freely using the link at the bottom of the table.
Visit www.bridgegrades.org for current scores and grades in the House and Senate.
Bridge Grades is a citizen-built, citizen-funded project of Mediators Foundation, a 501(c)3 based in Boulder, Colorado. Bridge Grades is an educational tool and neither endorses nor opposes individual candidates for public office.
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