The Accountability Scorecard
Voting and Campaign Funding Record • Updated July 2026

John Garamendi

California's 8th Congressional District • In office since 2009 • 9th term • Democrat

Aligned with our positions on 3 of 3 key issues.
John Garamendi
Official portrait
No. 01 — Health care • Federal budget

H.R. 1 — the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act

Passed by Republicans in July 2025, H.R. 1 carries roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts and raises health-care costs for millions of working families — hitting rural hospitals, nursing homes, ACA coverage, and Medicare. Its $4.3 trillion addition to the deficit sets up an estimated $490 billion Medicare cut over the next decade. The full impact was deliberately delayed until after the 2026 midterms.

What support means
  • —Higher health-care costs for millions of working families
  • —A $4.3 trillion increase to the federal deficit
  • —An estimated $490 billion cut to Medicare
No. 02 — Voting rights

The SAVE Act

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act would force citizens to present a passport or birth certificate, in person, just to register to vote. Millions of eligible Americans can’t easily do that — including 69 million married women whose name doesn’t match their birth certificate and 140 million people with no passport. There is no evidence of the fraud it claims to stop.

What support means
  • —Blocks eligible citizens from exercising their right to vote
  • —Falls hardest on women, voters of color, military serving abroad, and trans citizens
No. 03 — War powers • Foreign policy

War Powers Resolution — Iran

In February 2026 the President partnered with Israel to launch major combat operations in Iran with no congressional authorization, pulling several nations into armed conflict. The Constitution gives Congress — not the President — the sole power to declare war. On July 23, the House passed H.Con.Res. 89 to direct an end to unauthorized U.S. hostilities involving Iran.

What support means
  • —Returns the power to declare war to Congress, as the Constitution requires
  • —Limits the President’s ability to wage an unauthorized war in Iran
Campaign finance • 2023–24 cycle

How was this campaign funded?

Funding distribution is based on FEC campaign receipts; dollar totals are compared with sitting House members for the 2023–24 cycle. Industry and issue associations use OpenSecrets classifications of itemized donors and PACs.

$1.11M total raised
Raised less than 83% of sitting House members
How the campaign was funded
Small-dollar-sized individual giving≤$200 per transactioniWe use $200 per transaction as the directional cutoff for small-dollar-sized giving.
>14% of House members
$46K4.2%
Larger individual & committee giving
>25% of House members
$1.07M95.8%

Larger individual and committee contributions made up a relatively high share of this campaign's funding—higher than in 77% of House campaigns.

Candidate self-financing & campaign income
>0% of House members
$00.0%
Excluded / misc. receipts
$2430.0%

Where is the money coming from?

Industries and issues associated with itemized donors and PACs. Employee contributions are associated with the donor's employer and its industry; they do not necessarily represent the organization or industry.

Share of total receipts iEvery share is a share of all FEC campaign receipts. OpenSecrets-associated dollars and FEC receipts use related but not identical reporting bases.
Full profile on OpenSecrets ↗

From which industries or interest groups did the representative receive the most campaign dollars?

Top 3: 21.9% of total receipts
1 Transportation Unions
>98% of House members
$100K8.9%
2 Real Estate
>49% of House members
$89K8.0%
3 Sea Transport
>98% of House members
$55K5.0%
Explore all 13 sectors & industries

The dollar figure is the total money OpenSecrets associates with each sector or industry; the percentage is its share of total FEC campaign receipts. OpenSecrets and the FEC use related but slightly different reporting and totaling methods, so the figures may not reconcile exactly. The dot compares this campaign's dollar total with other sitting House members.

01 Labor
>87% of House members
$216K 19.4%
Transportation Unions
>98% of House members
$100K 8.9%
Building Trade Unions
>85% of House members
$55K 4.9%
Public Sector Unions
>66% of House members
$34K 3.1%
Industrial Unions
>75% of House members
$23K 2.0%
Misc Unions
>58% of House members
$5K 0.5%
02 Finance/Insurance/Real Estate
>23% of House members
$137K 12.3%
Real Estate
>49% of House members
$89K 8.0%
Securities & Investment
>25% of House members
$26K 2.4%
Credit Unions
>69% of House members
$9K 0.8%
Insurance
>11% of House members
$8K 0.7%
Misc Finance
>16% of House members
$4K 0.4%
Commercial Banks
>4% of House members
$1K 0.1%
03 Transportation
>78% of House members
$113K 10.2%
Sea Transport
>98% of House members
$55K 5.0%
Air Transport
>73% of House members
$32K 2.9%
Railroads
>68% of House members
$8K 0.7%
Trucking
>60% of House members
$4K 0.4%
Other / not separately listed — $13K 1.2%
04 Construction
>69% of House members
$87K 7.9%
General Contractors
>84% of House members
$45K 4.0%
Home Builders
>84% of House members
$16K 1.4%
Construction Services
>54% of House members
$14K 1.3%
Special Trade Contractors
>65% of House members
$11K 1.0%
Building Materials & Equipment
>16% of House members
$1K 0.1%
05 Lawyers & Lobbyists
>31% of House members
$81K 7.3%
Lawyers/Law Firms
>38% of House members
$50K 4.5%
Lobbyists
>37% of House members
$31K 2.8%
06 Misc Business
>20% of House members
$65K 5.8%
Beer, Wine & Liquor
>70% of House members
$19K 1.7%
Business Services
>47% of House members
$18K 1.6%
Casinos/Gambling
>58% of House members
$10K 0.9%
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing
>17% of House members
$5K 0.4%
Retail Sales
>19% of House members
$5K 0.4%
Steel Production
>75% of House members
$4K 0.3%
Chemical & Related Manufacturing
>42% of House members
$2K 0.2%
Food & Beverage
>12% of House members
$1K 0.1%
Misc Services
>22% of House members
$1K 0.1%
Recreation/Live Entertainment
>36% of House members
$500 0.0%
07 Agribusiness
>57% of House members
$63K 5.7%
Crop Production & Basic Processing
>76% of House members
$41K 3.7%
Agricultural Services/Products
>72% of House members
$16K 1.4%
Forestry & Forest Products
>66% of House members
$3K 0.3%
Dairy
>77% of House members
$2K 0.2%
Livestock
>41% of House members
$800 0.1%
08 Other
>13% of House members
$60K 5.3%
Retired
>17% of House members
$41K 3.7%
Civil Servants/Public Officials
>44% of House members
$9K 0.8%
Education
>27% of House members
$6K 0.5%
Non-Profit Institutions
>25% of House members
$4K 0.3%
For-Profit Education
>35% of House members
$10 0.0%
Other / not separately listed — $155 0.0%
09 Defense
>81% of House members
$48K 4.3%
Misc Defense
>84% of House members
$30K 2.7%
Defense Aerospace
>76% of House members
$18K 1.6%
10 Communic/Electronics
>31% of House members
$44K 4.0%
Electronics Mfg & Equip
>51% of House members
$20K 1.8%
Telephone Utilities
>74% of House members
$14K 1.3%
TV/Movies/Music
>45% of House members
$10K 0.9%
Internet
>17% of House members
$135 0.0%
Printing & Publishing
>17% of House members
$45 0.0%
11 Energy/Nat Resource
>39% of House members
$38K 3.4%
Electric Utilities
>40% of House members
$12K 1.1%
Oil & Gas
>40% of House members
$9K 0.8%
Renewable Energy
>54% of House members
$2K 0.2%
Waste Management
>79% of House members
$2K 0.2%
Mining
>65% of House members
$1K 0.1%
Other / not separately listed — $11K 1.0%
12 Ideology/Single-Issue
>2% of House members
$30K 2.7%
Human Rights
>68% of House members
$18K 1.6%
Environment
>53% of House members
$5K 0.5%
Foreign & Defense Policy
>86% of House members
$5K 0.4%
Gun Rights
>52% of House members
$2K 0.2%
Pro-Israel
>6% of House members
$2K 0.2%
Candidate Committees
>2% of House members
-$2K -0.2%
13 Health
>8% of House members
$28K 2.5%
Health Professionals
>7% of House members
$15K 1.3%
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products
>31% of House members
$9K 0.8%
Health Services/HMOs
>8% of House members
$710 0.1%
Hospitals/Nursing Homes
>4% of House members
$500 0.0%
Other / not separately listed — $3K 0.2%
— Not classified to an interest FEC receipts not represented in the OpenSecrets-associated total $103K 9.2%
How to read these numbers • sources & methodology

Total receipts

Displayed funding-source shares use total campaign receipts reported to the FEC for the 2023–2024 cycle.

The $200 convention

We use $200 as the directional cutoff because the FEC requires contributions over $200 to be itemized. It describes transaction size, not a donor's identity or cumulative cycle giving.

Funding mix comparison

The editorial note first flags candidate contributions and candidate-origin loans when they total at least $500,000 and rank in the top 5% of House campaigns by raw candidate-financing amount. Campaign income such as interest and dividends is excluded from this test. Otherwise, the note compares the balance between small-dollar-sized giving and larger individual and committee giving; that comparison is omitted when those two buckets do not make up a majority of the campaign's receipts.

Most money

From which industries or interest groups did the representative receive the most campaign dollars?

Unusually high

We compare how much money the representative received that is associated with a given interest group with how much other House members received.

Materiality guardrail

Unusually high interests must account for at least $10,000 and 0.5% of total campaign receipts.

Candidate financing & campaign income

Candidate contributions and candidate loans appear with identified campaign income, including bank interest, dividends, and investment income.

Recount and neutral receipts

Recount-related donations follow the same individual/committee and $200 logic as ordinary contributions. Refunds, rebates, offsets, other loans, and unresolved miscellaneous receipts remain in the neutral excluded/misc category.

OpenSecrets-associated dollars

OpenSecrets interest amounts remain on their published basis and are not scaled to match FEC receipts. Association identifies a financial relationship in OpenSecrets classifications; it does not establish causation.

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