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Former member of Congress · last served 109th Congress

Official portrait of Rep. Martin Olav Sabo

Martin Olav Sabo

DEMOCRAT U.S. Representative · MinnesotaHouse 1979–2007 (MN-5)

Martin Sabo was a Democratic U.S. representative from Minnesota, first elected to Congress in 1979, who sponsored 1 bill that became law (100th–109th Congress).

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53Bills & resolutions sponsored100th–109th Congress (excludes amendments)
5Passed a chamberof 53 bills & resolutions sponsored
1Became law1 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 Rep. Sabo has won

Rep. Sabo has won 14 U.S. House elections (1978–2004). Of the contested races, margins ran from 24.6 to 47.1 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)1978, MN-5: won by 24.7 points1978MN-51980, MN-5: won by 43.4 points19801982, MN-5: won by 36.2 points19821984, MN-5: won by 43.5 points19841986, MN-5: won by 46.8 points19861988, MN-5: won by 47.1 points19881990, MN-5: won by 45.7 points19901992, MN-5: won by 35.0 points19921994, MN-5: won by 24.6 points19941996, MN-5: won by 35.8 points19961998, MN-5: won by 39.3 points19982000, MN-5: won by 46.4 points20002002, MN-5: won by 41.1 points20022004, MN-5: won by 45.2 points2004
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won14 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 24.6 points1994, MN-5
Won an open seat or took one from the other party1 of 14 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, Minnesota’s 5th districtWinners, most recent three: Martin Sabo (D) 1978–2004 → Keith Ellison (D) 2006–2016 → Ilhan Omar (D) 2018–2024. Elections shown, not terms; special elections not included.

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 Minnesota’s 5th district done while Rep. Sabo served?

2005 to 2006 in MN-5: 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 inflationMinnesota $84.5KU.S. $75.8KMN-5 $73.9K
MN-5: $73.6K in 2005 → $73.9K in 2006
MN-5 about the sameMinnesota about the sameU.S. up 1%
Share of people below the poverty lineMN-5 17.3%U.S. 13.3%Minnesota 9.8%
MN-5: 15.6% in 2005 → 17.3% in 2006
MN-5 about the sameMinnesota up 0.6 pointsU.S. about the same
Share of workers looking for a jobMN-5 6.8%U.S. 6.4%Minnesota 5.2%
MN-5: 7.9% in 2005 → 6.8% in 2006
MN-5 about the sameMinnesota down 0.3 pointsU.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. Teal = district, oxblood = state, grey = U.S.

While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in Minnesota’s 5th district during Sabo’s time representing it (1979 to 2007). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.

One set of district lines. MN-5’s lines did not change in these years, so every year can be compared. The Census Bureau has no 2020 yearly estimate.

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 5 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored5Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them →
With a sponsor’s constitutional-authority statement0None listed
With a CBO cost estimate listed0None listed
With a committee report listed0None listed
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.