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Former member of Congress · last served 110th Congress

Official portrait of Rep. Christopher Shays

Christopher Shays

REPUBLICAN U.S. Representative · ConnecticutHouse 1987–2009 (CT-4)

Christopher Shays was a Republican U.S. representative from Connecticut, first elected to Congress in 1987, who sponsored 2 bills that became law (100th–110th Congress).

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199Bills & resolutions sponsored100th–110th Congress (excludes amendments)
11Passed a chamberof 199 bills & resolutions sponsored
2Became law2 substantive + 0 ceremonial · 100th–110th 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. Shays has won

Rep. Shays has won 10 U.S. House elections (1988–2006). Of the contested races, margins ran from 3.4 to 53.1 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)1988, CT-4: won by 44.7 points1988CT-41990, CT-4: won by 53.1 points19901992, CT-4: won by 40.6 points19921994, CT-4: won by 50.6 points19941996, CT-4: won by 22.8 points19961998, CT-4: won by 39.2 points19982000, CT-4: won by 16.8 points20002002, CT-4: won by 28.9 points20022004, CT-4: won by 4.9 points20042006, CT-4: won by 3.4 points2006
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won10 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 3.4 points2006, CT-4
Won an open seat or took one from the other party0 of 10 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, Connecticut’s 4th districtWinners, most recent three: Stewart McKinney (R) 1976–1986 → Christopher Shays (R) 1988–2006 → James A. Himes (D) 2008–2024. 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 Connecticut’s 4th district done while Rep. Shays served?

2005 to 2008 in CT-4: typical household income was up 8% after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was up 1.6 points, and the share of workers looking for a job was about the same.

Typical household income · after inflationCT-4 $129.5KConnecticut $100.5KU.S. $76.2K
CT-4: $120.3K in 2005 → $129.5K in 2008
CT-4 up 8%Connecticut about the sameU.S. up 2%
Share of people below the poverty lineU.S. 13.2%Connecticut 9.3%CT-4 9.1%
CT-4: 7.5% in 2005 → 9.1% in 2008
CT-4 up 1.6 pointsConnecticut up 1.0 pointsU.S. about the same
Share of workers looking for a jobCT-4 7.3%Connecticut 6.4%U.S. 6.4%
CT-4: 6.6% in 2005 → 7.3% in 2008
CT-4 about the sameConnecticut 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. Teal = district, oxblood = state, grey = U.S.

While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in Connecticut’s 4th district during Shays’s time representing it (1987 to 2009). 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. CT-4’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

110th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 28 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored28Source: 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 110th 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.