Robert Menendez
Democrat
· NJ-8 · 119th Congress
House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Influence Score
61.3
Moderately exposed
↑ +9.6
vs 118th (51.7)
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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
4.5
/ 12
Outside spendingmoney spent by groups to help elect them
3.3
/ 6
Spent to help elect them
$3,160,696
Outside groups that spent to help elect this member — this drives the outside-spending bar above
Spent to defeat this member
$923,172
Outside groups that spent to defeat this member (not counted in this score)
Lobbyinghow hard lobbyists push the committees this member sits on
5.6
/ 10
Revolving door
former staff now working as lobbyists
0.0
/ 3
Vote alignmenthow often they vote the way their donors want
8.7
/ 12
Contribution timingmoney arriving near key votes
0.1
/ 6
Stock tradesbuying stocks in industries they regulate
0.0
/ 1
Dark moneyfunding from groups that hide their donors
0.0
/ 2
Outbound money distributionmoney this member sends out to the party and to colleagues
10.0
/ 16
Cluster network breadthhow many coordinated funding networks back this member
6.8
/ 10
Committee jurisdiction powerthe legislative reach of the committees this member sits on
3.3
/ 10
Foreign interestforeign-interest money — Israel-policy PACs and FARA-registered institutional lobbying allocated by committee jurisdiction
6.6
/ 12
Israel-policy PACs behind this score
AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
$17,295 direct
NORPAC
$14,048 direct
DMFI PAC
$1,000 direct
FARA institutional lobbying
This member’s committees are targeted by $34.44M 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 — $69K.
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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 | — | — |
| 117th · 2021-2023 | — | — |
| 118th · 2023-2025 | 51.7 | Moderately exposed |
| 119th · 2025-2027 | 61.3 | Moderately exposed |
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Biggest funding source
The single network behind the most money and influence
Network
BOLD AMERICA
Total money from this network
$705,720
Number of funding networks contributing
1
— ◊ —
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.
Network
THINK BIG
Share from this one network
27.5%
Amount from this network
$661,899
Total from all networks
$2,409,746
Networks contributing
312
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Who funds Menendez
Every funding network we can measure, ranked by influence
$3,947,200
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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
89.2%
Extra weight when money matches their committees
1.50×
Share of outside spending tied to their policy areas
20.1%
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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
$2K
Distinct donors
2
Distinct employers
1
Share of their total fundraising
0.12%
Biggest clusters of timed money
ALLIANCE COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE
$1K
ALLIANCE COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE
$1K
ALLIANCE COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE
$500
AMAZON
$500
COINBASE
$500
CVS HEALTH
$500
DELL EMC
$500
MICROSOFT
$500
SPECTRUM HEALTH CARE
$500
AMGEN
$250
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Top Donors
Biggest sources of contributions, grouped by employer, this cycle
LOWENSTEIN SANDLER LLP
$33K
LOWENSTEIN SANDLER LLP
$24K
BLACKSTONE
$17K
LCOR
$16K
URBY
$16K
LINDE-GRIFFITH
$15K
AMERICAN SPRAYTECH
$14K
BGR
$14K
BLACKSTONE
$13K
CARELLA BYRNE
$13K
BGR
$13K
CARELLA BYRNE
$13K
LOWENSTEIN SANDLER LLP
$12K
INSERRA SUPERMARKETS
$12K
PEGASUS
$12K
APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT
$12K
LEFRAK
$11K
FIRETREE
$11K
LOWENSTEIN SANDLER
$11K
2215 RTE 4
$10K
Where the outside money comes from
How much of the outside spending for and against Robert Menendez comes from groups that disclose their donors versus groups that hide them
By funding network
THE 1861 INITIATIVE
$972K
AMERICA'S PROMISE
$771K
THINK BIG
$662K
FAIRSHAKE
$594K
PROTECT OUR FUTURE PAC
$500K
BOLD AMERICA
$188K
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS CONGRESSIONAL FUND
$166K
FRIENDS OF SHERROD BROWN
$100K
THE TURNOUT PROJECT
$79K
YOUTH SAVE DEMOCRACY PAC
$52K
SIERRA CLUB INDEPENDENT ACTION
$20
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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.
290 individuals who also gave to pro-Israel PACs contributed $508K to Robert Menendez across 388 contributions.
Total from shared contributors
$508K
Shared contributors
290
Contributions
388
By cycle
| Cycle | Shared donors | Gifts | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 62 | 67 | $106K |
| 2024 | 169 | 203 | $257K |
| 2026 | 108 | 118 | $145K |
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Robert Menendez 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