Joe Courtney
Democrat
· CT-2 · 119th Congress
House Committee on Armed Services · House Committee on Education and Labor · and Pensions · House Committee on Education and Workforce
Influence Score
55.9
Moderately exposed
↑ +2.9
vs 118th (53.0)
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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
5.8
/ 12
Outside spendingmoney spent by groups to help elect them
0.3
/ 6
Spent to help elect them
$28,490
Outside groups that spent to help elect this member — this drives the outside-spending bar above
Spent to defeat this member
$22,314
Outside groups that spent to defeat this member (not counted in this score)
Lobbyinghow hard lobbyists push the committees this member sits on
4.5
/ 10
Vote alignmenthow often they vote the way their donors want
7.9
/ 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
< 0.1
/ 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
6.9
/ 10
Committee jurisdiction powerthe legislative reach of the committees this member sits on
4.0
/ 10
Foreign interestforeign-interest money — Israel-policy PACs and FARA-registered institutional lobbying allocated by committee jurisdiction
1.5
/ 12
Israel-policy PACs behind this score
JSTREETPAC
$1,746 direct
FARA institutional lobbying
This member’s committees are targeted by $28.20M 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 — $56K.
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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 | 49.1 | Moderately exposed |
| 117th · 2021-2023 | 47.1 | Least exposed |
| 118th · 2023-2025 | 53.0 | Moderately exposed |
| 119th · 2025-2027 | 55.9 | Moderately exposed |
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Biggest funding source
The single network behind the most money and influence
Total money from this network
$52,500
Number of funding networks contributing
1
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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
1.8%
Amount from this network
$35,000
Total from all networks
$1,930,069
Networks contributing
308
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Who funds Courtney
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
4.3%
Extra weight when money matches their committees
2.00×
Share of outside spending tied to their policy areas
99.9%
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Money timed to key votes
Donations arriving near key votes in the policy areas this member regulates
Times money arrived near a vote
2
Money that arrived near votes
$4K
Distinct donors
4
Distinct employers
1
Share of their total fundraising
0.77%
Biggest clusters of timed money
GENERAL DYNAMICS
$2K
GENERAL DYNAMICS
$1K
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
$250
GENERAL DYNAMICS
$250
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
$250
CONNECTICUT COLLEGE
$200
JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY
$50
JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY
$50
JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY
$50
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
$50
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Top Donors
Biggest sources of contributions, grouped by employer, this cycle
GENERAL DYNAMICS
$23K
CROSS SOUND FERRY
$17K
ELECTRIC BOAT
$17K
ELECTRIC BOAT
$12K
GENERAL DYNAMICS ELECTRIC BOAT
$12K
GENERAL DYNAMICS ELECTRIC BOAT
$12K
PMR
$7K
CEDAR ISLAND MARINA
$7K
BIRDON
$7K
CEDAR ISLAND MARINA
$7K
ATHENA HEALTH CARE
$6K
ATHENA HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS
$6K
AMERICAN CAPITAL
$6K
ANALYSIS
$6K
LEVENTHAL PUGA BRALEY P C
$6K
LIFE YIELD
$6K
MEDLEY
$6K
THE BAUPOST
$6K
FIRST HARTFORD REALTY
$6K
INVERSANT
$5K
Where the outside money comes from
How much of the outside spending for and against Joe Courtney comes from groups that disclose their donors versus groups that hide them
Total outside spending received
$61K
Disclosed outside spending
$61K
Dark-money outside spending
$8
Share that is dark money
0.01%
Dark money tied to their policy areas
$0
Groups hiding their donors
1
By funding network
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS CONGRESSIONAL FUND
$28K
AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION SUPER PAC
$22K
DEMOCRACY PAC
$195
NEA ADVOCACY FUND
$67
SIERRA CLUB INDEPENDENT ACTION
$50
Groups that hide their donors
1 smaller group under $500
$8
Likely donors behind the dark money supporting this member
Inferred
Donors who fund the disclosed PACs in the same network as the hidden groups above. "Coverage" is how many of that network's disclosed groups a donor funds — the more they fund, the more likely they also back the hidden group.
NEVADANS FOR STEVEN HORSFORD
$80K
TITUS FOR CONGRESS
$80K
SUSIE LEE FOR CONGRESS
$79K
GEORGE SOROS
$525.74M
SMP
$81.00M
BLACKPAC
$47.25M
AB PAC
$25.50M
HMP
$15.00M
HOUSE MAJORITY PAC
$15.00M
CARE IN ACTION PAC
$6.60M
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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.
40 individuals who also gave to pro-Israel PACs contributed $74K to Joe Courtney across 58 contributions.
Total from shared contributors
$74K
Shared contributors
40
Contributions
58
By cycle
| Cycle | Shared donors | Gifts | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 26 | 35 | $39K |
| 2024 | 16 | 17 | $17K |
| 2026 | 5 | 6 | $18K |
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Revolving Door
3 former staff members
who worked for Joe Courtney or the committees they serve are now registered lobbyists.
| Lobbyist | Former position | Firm | Clients | Filings | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELIZABETH GOODWIN | Law Clerk, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Office of Senator Richard Blumenth… | STEPTOE LLP | 2 | 2 | 2023–2024 |
| NEIL MCKIERNAN | Chief of Staff to Congressman Joe Courtney | AMERICAN DEFENSE INTERNATIONAL | 2 | 5 | 2023–2025 |
| SEAN FALVEY | Senior Advisor, Defense Policy, Rep. Joe Courtney; Military Legislative Assistan… | BLUEFORGE ALLIANCE | 1 | 6 | 2025–2025 |
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Joe Courtney sits in the middle of this Congress on the index. There is a measured sponsor relationship, but the vote-alignment signal is weaker — money flows; the votes do not follow in lockstep.
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