John Reed
Democrat · RI· In the Senate since 1997 (29 yrs)
Leans on concentrated money.
Why this grade
Every score is built from facts you can check: who funds them and how they vote. Here's what drove it.
1.6% of their money comes from small donors; 40.9% comes from PACs.
$3,908,108 in PAC money flows through their leadership PAC (NARRAGANSETT BAY PAC).
Of the 23 money votes they've cast, they sided with the people 23 times (100%).
Where the money comes from
$405KCareer donations from the seven industries that most often buy influence, and the biggest names in each.
General Dynamics $90K · Lockheed Martin $53K · Raytheon $48K · Boeing $2K · Northrop Grumman $2K
Goldman Sachs $37K · Morgan Stanley $21K · Am. Bankers Assn. $20K · Blackstone $8K · Securities Industry $8K
Amgen $26K · Johnson & Johnson $19K · Pfizer $3K · Merck $3K
Natl Assn of Realtors $33K
Microsoft $7K · Google $4K · Apple $2K · Meta $2K · Amazon $500
Comcast $3K · Verizon $2K · AT&T $2K · T-Mobile $750
Chevron $150
Source: FEC career receipts. It's all legal. That's the point.
Outside money
$138Super PACs and outside groups can spend unlimited money to get a senator elected, cash the senator doesn't control and whose donors are often hidden. This is what Citizens United unleashed.
$138 in outside money was spent boosting them, and $4K spent attacking them.
Biggest boosters
- PLANNED PARENTHOOD VOTES$68
- ENVIRONMENT AMERICA INC$59
- SIERRA CLUB POLITICAL COMMITTEE$10
Source: FEC independent expenditures (Schedule E), career totals. It runs outside the senator's own campaign, and it's all legal.
The money votes
On the Senate votes where concentrated money was on the line, here's which way they went. Sided with the money on 0 of 23.
H.R. 1 · 2025. Its largest benefits flow to corporations and top earners. A yes vote sided with the donor class.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
H.J.Res. 88 · 2025. Revoked California's EV-standards waiver. A yes vote sided with oil and legacy-auto interests against the EV transition.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S.J.Res. 18 · 2025. Killed the CFPB cap on overdraft fees at the biggest banks. A yes vote sided with their fee income.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S.J.Res. 28 · 2025. Killed CFPB supervision of big-tech payment apps (Apple/Google/PayPal-style). A yes vote sided with those firms.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
H.J.Res. 35 · 2025. Killed the EPA fee on oil-and-gas methane leaks. A yes vote sided with the fossil-fuel industry that would have paid it.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
H.J.Res. 109 · 2024. Killed the SEC rule making banks hold capital against customer crypto. A yes vote sided with crypto firms and banks.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S.J.Res. 32 · 2023. Killed the CFPB rule making banks report small-business lending data (used to spot bias). A yes vote sided with the banks.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
H.J.Res. 30 · 2023. Killed the rule letting retirement plans weigh climate risk. A yes vote sided with fossil-fuel and asset-management interests.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
H.R. 5376 · 2022. Let Medicare negotiate drug prices for the first time. A no vote sided with the pharmaceutical industry.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S. 2747 · 2021. Aimed to curb big money and tighten disclosure. Blocking it protected dark-money spending.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S. 2093 · 2021. Carried donor-disclosure and anti-big-money rules. Blocking it sided with undisclosed money.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S.J.Res. 52 · 2018. Reversed the FCC's repeal to restore net neutrality. A no vote sided with the broadband carriers.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S. 2155 · 2018. Exempted midsize banks from Dodd-Frank oversight. A yes vote sided with the banking industry.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
H.R. 1 · 2017. Its biggest cuts went to corporations and top earners. A yes vote sided with the donor class.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
H.J.Res. 111 · 2017. Killed the rule letting customers sue banks in class actions. A yes vote restored forced arbitration.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S.J.Res. 34 · 2017. Let internet providers sell your browsing history. A yes vote sided with the telecom carriers.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
H.J.Res. 41 · 2017. Killed the rule making oil and mining firms disclose payments to governments. A yes vote backed industry secrecy.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S.Amdt. 178 · 2017. Would let Americans buy cheaper drugs from Canada. A no vote protected U.S. pharma pricing.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S. 1 · 2015. Forced approval of the oil pipeline backed by the fossil-fuel industry, bypassing review.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S.J.Res. 19 · 2014. A constitutional amendment to let Congress regulate campaign money. A no vote sided with unlimited spending.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S. 3369 · 2012. Second attempt to unmask Super PAC and corporate donors. A no vote blocked the disclosure rule.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
S. 3628 · 2010. Would have forced disclosure of dark-money donors. A no vote protected anonymous corporate spending.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
H.R. 4173 · 2010. Wall Street fought Dodd-Frank. A no vote sided with the banks against the new rules and the CFPB.
See who voted Yea & Nay →
Source: Senate roll-call records. “With the money” means the vote favored the industry whose cash was at stake. It's not a judgment of right or wrong.
On the cards
How to read the grade
- AFunded by you, not by concentrated money
- BMostly independent of concentrated money
- CA mix of independence and big money
- DLeans on concentrated money
- FHeavily reliant on concentrated money
We grade money behavior, not party. Both parties run the full range. We show the averages in the open: the typical Democrat scores 72, the typical Republican 47. The grade is mostly money (who funds them) with a light weight on how they vote. Source: FEC receipts, leadership-PAC filings, and Senate roll calls. Nothing here alleges a crime. The point is that it's all legal.