What did the people you voted for actually do?
The Texas Promise Tracker lines up what Texas officials promised with what happened next. Every claim links to its source.
A party label tells you a lot. A record tells you more. This site is here so you can judge each official on what they did, not just the R or D next to their name.
Live from the tracker database each time this page loads.
How it works
We record a promise only from the official's own words, with a link and a date for where they said it.
Then we follow it step by step. Each step needs its own dated source, like a bill page or a roll call.
- Stated
- Bill filed
- Out of committee
- Passed one chamber
- Passed both/signed
- Funded & in effect
Each promise also gets a status:
- Kept - they did what they said.
- Compromised/partial - they got part of it done.
- Broken - they did not do it.
- Blocked by others - they tried, and someone else stopped it.
- In progress - work has started but is not finished.
New promises start as Not yet rated. Old ratings are never overwritten, so the full history stays visible.
How scores work
Kept rate = Kept / rated
Rated means Kept, Compromised/partial, Broken, or Blocked by others.
In progress is shown on its own and does not count toward the rate. Filing a bill is a start, not a result.
An official needs 3 or more rated promises to be ranked. With fewer, they are listed with a LOW SAMPLE badge instead of a rank.
Money
Campaign money comes from public filings: the FEC for federal officials and the Texas Ethics Commission for state officials. Names and employers are shown as filed.
Foreign-link items are leads, not accusations. Federal law bars foreign nationals from giving to U.S. campaigns (52 U.S.C. 30121). A flag means "worth checking," nothing more.
Some flags are legal by design. A PAC run by the U.S. branch of a foreign-owned company is allowed when U.S. employees fund it and U.S. people run it.
Flip-flops
When an official votes both ways on the same measure, or votes against something they said they supported, we label it a Candidate flip. It stays a candidate until a person reviews it.
Procedural votes and votes on an amended or different version of a bill are not counted as flips.
Our rules
- Same standards for every party. The rules are built into the code, not left to judgment calls.
- Every claim links to a source. If we can't verify it, we don't rate it.
- No splitting the difference. When the evidence is clear, the rating follows it.
- Corrections are welcome. Corrections can be submitted with a source, and we check them by the same rules.
What's covered
- Federal: Texas's U.S. senators and House members (39 on file).
- Statewide: statewide officials such as the Governor (9 on file).
- Texas Legislature: all 181 seats (178 current members on file; open seats are noted).
- Counties and cities: 13 East Texas counties so far (Anderson, Cherokee, Gregg, Harrison, Henderson, Nacogdoches, Panola, Rusk, Shelby, Smith, Upshur, Van Zandt, Wood). 177 county and city officials on file.
More counties are coming. Read the full methods.