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Former member of Congress · last served 109th Congress

Official portrait of Sen. James M. Jeffords

James M. Jeffords

INDEPENDENT U.S. Senator · VermontSenate 1989–2007 · House 1975–1989 (VT-AL)

James Jeffords was an Independent U.S. senator from Vermont, first elected to Congress in 1975, who sponsored 12 bills that became law (100th–109th Congress).

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294Bills & resolutions sponsored100th–109th Congress (excludes amendments)
41Passed a chamberof 294 bills & resolutions sponsored
12Became law12 substantive + 0 ceremonial · 100th–109th Congress
—Broke with partyNo roll calls in PORKER’s records (they start in 2011)
—Missed votesNo roll calls in PORKER’s records (they start in 2011)
—Pork: own shareFY2024 earmarks: not in office

How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.

Recent votes

No recorded roll-call votes in PORKER’s records. Roll-call records start in 2011.

5 most recent bills

Top bills sponsored

Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.

Elections Sen. Jeffords has won

Sen. Jeffords has won 6 U.S. House elections (1976–1986) and 3 U.S. Senate elections (1988, 1994, 2000). Of the contested races, margins ran from 9.7 to 85.2 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)1976, VT-AL: won by 34.8 points1976VT-AL1978, VT-AL: won by 56.0 points19781980, VT-AL: won by 66.5 points19801982, VT-AL: won by 46.0 points19821984, VT-AL: won by 38.8 points19841986, VT-AL: won by 85.2 points19861988, VT Senate: won by 38.3 points1988VT Senate1994, VT Senate: won by 9.7 points19942000, VT Senate: won by 40.1 points2000
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won9 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 9.7 points1994, VT Senate
Won an open seat or took one from the other party1 of 9 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, Vermont (at-large)Winners, most recent three: Bernard Sanders (O) 1990–2004 → Peter Welch (D) 2006–2020 → Becca Balint (D) 2022–2024. Elections shown, not terms; special elections not included.
Seat history, Vermont Senate (class 1)Winners in regular elections, most recent three: Robert Stafford (R) 1976–1982 → James Jeffords (R) 1988–2000 → Bernard Sanders (O) 2006–2024.

Full election history for this seat →

Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.

How has Vermont done while Sen. Jeffords served?

2005 to 2006 in Vermont: typical household income was about the same after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was about the same, and the share of workers looking for a job was about the same.

Typical household income · after inflationU.S. $75.8KVermont $74.6K
Vermont: $73.8K in 2005 → $74.6K in 2006
Vermont about the sameU.S. up 1%
Share of people below the poverty lineU.S. 13.3%Vermont 10.3%
Vermont: 11.5% in 2005 → 10.3% in 2006
Vermont about the sameU.S. about the same
Share of workers looking for a jobU.S. 6.4%Vermont 4.8%
Vermont: 5.3% in 2005 → 4.8% in 2006
Vermont about the sameU.S. down 0.5 points

Each mini chart has its own scale, fitted to its lines (it does not start at zero), so compare the numbers, not the heights. Oxblood = state, grey = U.S.

While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in Vermont during Jeffords’s time representing it (1989 to 2007). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.

Survey years start at 2005. The yearly estimates for Vermont begin in 2005, so 1989 to 2004 are not shown. No 2020 yearly estimate exists.

See the full 20-year record →Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates (tables B19013, B17001, B23001) and BLS CPI-U-RS for inflation, retrieved October 18, 2026. “About the same” means the change is inside the 90% margins of error. Who held the seat: Congress.gov member service records, year level.

Official records on bills this member sponsored

109th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 25 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored25Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them →
With a CBO cost estimate listed5See the 5 →
With a committee report listed4See the 4 →
With a Congress.gov note2See the 2 →
Evidence
How counted
Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 109th Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
Fields
cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
PORKER copy refreshed
October 26, 2026 (nightly)

Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.

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Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.