Joseph D. Morelle

[constituency_baseline] District summary: New York's 25th Congressional District encompasses all of Monroe County and a portion of Orleans County, centered on the city of Rochester. The district serves approximately 771,484 constituents with a median household income of $76,853 — well above the $37,585 national median. The population is 70.1% White, 13.9% Black, with a median age of 39.7. The poverty rate is 8.9% (below the national average), homeownership is 64%, and 41.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — significantly above the national average. The economy is anchored in healthcare (University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester Regional Health), higher education (University of Rochester, RIT), advanced manufacturing and optics (L3Harris Technologies), and food and beverage processing (Constellation Brands). The district has a Cook PVI of D+22 and is safely Democratic; Morelle won the 2024 election with more than 60% of the vote.

Voted yea on H.R. 8404 (Respect for Marriage Act (December 2022 final passage)) on 2022-12-08: Morelle voted yea on both the July 2022 initial House passage and the December 2022 final version of the Respect for Marriage Act, codifying same-sex and interracial marriage into federal law. He issued press releases for both votes emphasizing his commitment to protecting marriage equality from Supreme Court rollback. The votes are constituent-aligned: his district is 41.9% college-educated with strong LGBTQ+ support. 39 Republicans joined all Democrats in December.

Voted nay on H.Res. 189 (Censuring Representative Al Green of Texas) on 2025-03-06: Morelle voted with 198 Democrats against censuring Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump's address to Congress. Only 10 Democrats joined Republicans in voting to censure Green. Morelle's nay vote aligned him with the overwhelming majority of his party and the Congressional Progressive Caucus position — consistent with his role as a senior Democrat and Ranking Member of the House Administration Committee.

Voted nay on H.R. 8034 (Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024) on 2024-02-06: Morelle voted nay on the standalone Israel aid bill that failed under suspension of rules in February 2024 — joining 166 Democrats who preferred a comprehensive package including Ukraine and humanitarian aid. He subsequently voted yea on the full $95 billion national security supplemental (H.R. 8034) on April 20, 2024 that included $26 billion in Israel aid. AIPAC, his top donor at $92,270, supported both bills. The vote pattern shows a Democratic institutionalist approach: vote no on the partisan bill, yes on the comprehensive package.

Voted yea on H.R. 29 (Laken Riley Act) on 2025-01-07: Morelle was one of only seven House Democrats who flipped from 'nay' in March 2024 to 'yea' in January 2025 on mandatory ICE detention for undocumented immigrants charged with nonviolent crimes. The flip made him one of 48 Democrats to support the bill in the 119th Congress. His subsequent reversal — voting against DHS funding a year later and calling ICE 'heartbreaking and unacceptable' — makes this vote a significant pivot point in his immigration trajectory.

Voted nay on H.R. 1 (One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) — House passage of Senate amendment) on 2025-07-03: Morelle delivered a floor speech calling the OBBBA the 'greatest shift of resources and wealth from the poorest Americans to the wealthiest' and 'a reverse Robin Hood.' He highlighted that it would strip health insurance from 1.5 million New Yorkers, eliminate food assistance for nearly 3 million Americans, and explode the deficit by $3.3 trillion. Only 2 Republicans voted nay. The vote was both party-aligned and constituent-aligned: his district has 8.9% poverty and thousands on Medicaid and SNAP. His SEIU 1199 healthcare union constituents picketed ahead of the vote.