SCORECARD · NIKKI BUDZINSKI accountability readout

Nikki Budzinski dossier →

Democratic U.S. House · IL-13 full conduct profile →
73/100
ELEVATED CAPTURE-RISK INDEX
How this number is built ↓
Silence risk25%
69
Contradiction risk25%
80
Connection density20%
56
Donor influence10%
83
Fact density10%
73
Constituency deviation5%
100
Voting misalignment5%
0

Weighted composite, 0–100. Identical to the figure on the Congress monitor. Each bar is the component's normalised 0–100 contribution before weighting.

01

Silence on donor-funded topics 6

Topics where donors have documented interests but the official has no public statement on record. Silence is the absence of expected speech — not proof of intent.

All silence flags for Nikki Budzinski →
02

Vote-vs-platform contradictions 1

Roll-call votes that contradict the official's own stated platform commitments. Each links to the bill and the contradiction rationale.

12.5% of 8 rated votes contradicted the stated platform
  • H.R. 9495 ↗ NAY 2024-11-21
    Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act — On Passage (Second Vote)
    why contradicted?
    [reversal] Budzinski was one of 34 Democrats who flipped from Yea to Nay on H.R. 9495 after sustained grassroots pressure. Her initial Yea vote drew condemnation from CU Muslim Action Committee and Cartoonists Rights, who warned the bill could be 'weaponized against organizations critical of government policies, especially those advocating for justice in Palestine.' Indivisible credited constituent calls for the flip and listed Budzinski among representatives who 'listened to constituents and changed their vote.' The reversal illustrates responsiveness to district activism but also an initial willingness to support legislation that civil liberties groups called a threat to free speech. This was not a scored AFL-CIO vote.
Full voting record + platform comparison →
03

Broken promises 0

Documented public commitments paired with the documented action that broke them. Each carries a primary-source citation for the violation.

No documented broken promises on file.

04

Documented contradictions 4

Stated-position-vs-revealed-conduct contradictions analysed against the official's commitments, scored by strength of the contradiction.

  • position_evolution SCORE 90
    Budzinski voted to expand ICE detention authority (Laken Riley Act, Jan 2025), then voted three times against funding the agency carrying out that authority (2025-2026), citing 'deadly consequences of mismanagement' and ICE 'tearing families apart.' Her public rationale — that the Trump administration moved 'well past the Laken Riley Act' into 'mass overreach' — frames this as a response to changing enforcement practices rather than a contradiction, but the votes are directly opposed on the same policy domain.
  • reversal SCORE 60
    Budzinski voted for H.R. 9495 on November 12, 2024 — a bill condemned by civil liberties groups as the 'nonprofit killer' — then flipped to Nay on November 21 after sustained grassroots pressure. Indivisible credited constituent calls for changing her mind. The flip illustrates responsiveness to district sentiment but also an initial willingness to support legislation that critics said could be 'weaponized against organizations critical of government policies, especially those advocating for justice in Palestine.'
  • statement_vs_disclosure SCORE 30
    Budzinski voted against the OBBB and called it a 'betrayal,' yet the NRCC documented she subsequently toured St. Louis Lambert Airport touting federal funding included in the bill — a 'vote no and take the dough' pattern identified in other members. The NRCC's opposition-research framing warrants editorial caution, but the public record of the airport visit juxtaposed with her vote is independently verifiable.
  • same_source_inconsistency SCORE 30
    Budzinski was the only Illinois Democrat to vote for the NDAA containing an anti-transgender healthcare provision, yet later told constituents she would 'do everything in her power to protect the LGBTQ+ community.' Both positions are documented in her own voting record and statements, as compiled by The Lavender Newsletter and Smile Politely. Her NDAA vote represented support for legislation containing what advocates called 'the first piece of federal anti-LGBTQ+ legislation to pass in 30 years.'
Contradictions ledger →

What this scorecard does and doesn't claim

Every figure above is a count of records the platform already holds, each click-through-able to its source. The scorecard adds no inference, no forecast, and no narrative — it aggregates what is documented.

A populated scorecard is not a finding of corruption. It documents the volume of stated-vs-revealed tension, donor-adjacent silence, and broken commitments on the public record for this official. Silence in particular is the absence of an expected statement; it can have innocent explanations and is never presented as proof. Read each item's source before drawing conclusions.

⌗ Cite this
Permalinkhttps://www.goblinhouse.net/scorecard/congress-b001315
CitationGoblin House. "Nikki Budzinski — Responsibility Scorecard" (accountability scorecard). Goblin House — The Architecture of Secrecy. Accessed October 19, 2026. https://www.goblinhouse.net/scorecard/congress-b001315.

Sourced from public records and content-hashed; verify via /attestation, standard at /methodology.