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Sen. Tom Udall

Former Senator for New Mexico

pronounced tom // YOO-dawl

Udall was a senator from New Mexico and was a Democrat. He served from 2009 to 2020.

He was previously the representative for New Mexico’s 3rd congressional district as a Democrat from 1999 to 2008.

Photo of Sen. Tom Udall [D-NM, 2009-2020]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 Report Card for Udall.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Udall is shown as a purple triangle in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2020 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Udall sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Dec 21, 2020. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Udall was the primary sponsor of 24 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 24 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Udall sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Native Americans (25%) Environmental Protection (14%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (13%) Health (12%) Government Operations and Politics (12%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Energy (7%) Agriculture and Food (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Udall recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Udall voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 81/19 on Dec 15, 2010.

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, H.R. 4853, 124 Stat. 3296, enacted December 17, 2010), also known …

Udall voted Nay

Passed 263/171 on Oct 3, 2008.

This bill became the vehicle for passage of economic stimulus relief during the 2008 financial crisis as well as other unrelated provisions. It was the …

Udall voted No

Missed Votes

From Jan 2009 to Jan 2021, Udall missed 44 of 3,659 roll call votes, which is 1.2%. This is better than the median of 1.8% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Jan 2021. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

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Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: