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Former member of Congress · last served 118th Congress

Official portrait of Rep. John P. Sarbanes

John P. Sarbanes

DEMOCRAT U.S. Representative · MarylandHouse 2007–2025 (MD-3)

John Sarbanes was a Democratic U.S. representative from Maryland, first elected to Congress in 2007, who voted with most Democrats on 95% of the 112th Congress’s yes/no votes.

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52Bills & resolutions sponsored113th–118th Congress (excludes amendments)
5Passed a chamberof 50 substantive bills (excludes resolutions and ceremonial bills)
0Became law113th–118th Congress
35Broke with partyof 653 yes/no votes, 112th (5.4%)
4Missed votesof 658 roll calls, 112th (0.6%)
$6.8MPork: own shareFY2024 earmarks, 15 items; shared items split

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.

5 most recent votes

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. Sarbanes has won

Rep. Sarbanes has won 9 U.S. House elections (2006–2022). Of the contested races, margins ran from 19.2 to 40.8 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)2006, MD-3: won by 30.3 points2006MD-32008, MD-3: won by 39.6 points20082010, MD-3: won by 25.1 points20102012, MD-3: won by 37.3 points20122014, MD-3: won by 19.2 points20142016, MD-3: won by 29.3 points20162018, MD-3: won by 40.8 points20182020, MD-3: won by 39.7 points20202022, MD-3: won by 20.5 points2022
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won9 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 19.2 points2014, MD-3
Won an open seat or took one from the other party1 of 9 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, Maryland’s 3rd districtWinners, most recent three: Benjamin L. Cardin (D) 1986–2004 → John P. Sarbanes (D) 2006–2022 → Sarah Elfreth (D) 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 Maryland’s 3rd district done while Rep. Sarbanes served?

2012 to 2021 in MD-3: typical household income was up 5% after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was about the same, and the share of workers looking for a job was down 1.8 points.

Typical household income · after inflationMD-3 $109.6KMaryland $104.5KU.S. $80.8K
MD-3: $104.9K in 2012 → $109.6K in 2021
MD-3 up 5%Maryland up 7%U.S. up 15%
Share of people below the poverty lineU.S. 12.8%Maryland 10.3%MD-3 8.1%
MD-3: 8.1% in 2012 → 8.1% in 2021
MD-3 about the sameMaryland about the sameU.S. down 3.2 points
Share of workers looking for a jobU.S. 6.3%Maryland 5.9%MD-3 4.9%
MD-3: 6.7% in 2012 → 4.9% in 2021
MD-3 down 1.8 pointsMaryland down 2.4 pointsU.S. down 3.1 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 Maryland’s 3rd district during Sarbanes’s time representing it (2007 to 2025). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.

Only one set of district lines is shown. MD-3 was redrawn in 2012 and again in 2022, and a redrawn district is a different place. So this card shows only the longest stretch on the same lines during the term, 2012 to 2021 (no 2020 yearly estimate), not the full 2007 to 2025.

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

118th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 11 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored11Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them →
With a sponsor’s constitutional-authority statement11See the 11 →
With a CBO cost estimate listed2See the 2 →
With a committee report listed1See the 1 →
Evidence
How counted
Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 118th 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 · latest recorded House vote Sep 16, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.