Methodology

Bridge Grades: What we measure

In collaboration with Masters candidates at Indiana University and student volunteers, the Bridge Grades systems are built and calibrated to sort legislative “bridgers” from “dividers” independent of ideology.

• Bridgers build win-win consensus solutions through collaboration and coalitions for the benefit of bipartisan interests

• Dividers pursue zero-sum game governance, engage in personal attacks, and demonstrate predictably partisan legislative records

Bridge Grades are calculated using public data from trusted 3rd party sources that measure observable behaviors including what a person says (rhetoric: public statements, speeches, social media), and what a person does (legislative record: authoring and sponsoring bipartisan bills).

We aggregate objective public data along four core collaboration dimensions:

• Consensus solutions (legislative record: cross party legislation)
• Civil discourse (bipartisan rhetoric, dividing rhetoric)
• Courage (bridging even when it would be easier not to)
• Coalition building (legislative record: cross party alliances)

How we calculate Bridge Grades: the process

• Step 1: Aggregate datasets from multiple public sources for each member of Congress on their legislative records and rhetoric.
• Step 2: Normalize datasets to a 0-100 range.
• Step 3: Apply weights to each normalized dataset (what you do counts more than what you say).
• Step 4: Sum the totals of the weighted scores.
• Step 5: Apply degree-of-difficulty based courage bonuses to reward bridging by those with wide ideologies and who represent hard leaning partisan districts.
• Step 6: (House only) Add bonus for members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.
• Step 7: Normalize the final totals into a 0-100 scale (the Bridge Score)
• Step 8: Apply a forced grading curve and assign Bridge Grades for each member. The top 50% (bridgers) earn As and Bs, while the bottom half (dividers) earn Cs and Fs. One standard deviation away from the mean are As and Fs.

Notes

• Bridge Grades are assessed uniquely for each term served in Congress. Just because a Congress person deserved a “C” last term, doesn’t mean they can’t earn an “A” this term.
• Scores were reset to zero on January 3, 2025 at the beginning of the 119th Congress.
• Data collected on legislative record and rhetoric is based on behaviors which have occurred only during the term of service (January 2025 going forward).
• Want to play with the data?