INDEPENDENT2026

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Alex Padilla

Sen · D–CA
5/7
📚 Summer School
📚 Summer school. Alex Padilla holds 5 of seven stars — but fails a critical Article (Free & Fair Elections). Assignment: summer school for Civics, watch every Schoolhouse Rock episode five times, and submit a one-page report — due before the end of the year. Report to summer school →

Rhetorical, not literal — an opinion on conduct measured against our civics standard. Ratings terms · Challenge this review

1Open Bookscritical
74%★ earned
“…the property of the people.” — Cicero, De Re Publica
9.6% of receipts from PACs — clean under the 15% cap, and no corporate leadership PAC. (FEC 2026)
60
2Free & Fair Electionscritical
42%☆ not yet
“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” — Abraham Lincoln
Backed Prop 50 — 'these are not normal times' (KPBS/CalMatters, Sep 2025). Backing a partisan gerrymander fails Free & Fair Elections.
60
3The Dignity of the Opponent
70%★ earned
“Treat humanity … always as an end and never as a means only.” — Kant
Generally respectful tone; his forcible removal at a DHS press conference was framed as oversight, not a personal attack.
60
4Fear Is Not Fuel
64%★ earned
“…the better angels of our nature.” — Lincoln, First Inaugural
Mixes an affirmative agenda with reactive alarm over federal immigration enforcement.
60
5Truth & a Kept Word
70%★ earned
“…living within the truth.” A representative owes “his judgment.” — Havel · Burke
Solid factual record with limited fact-check controversies.
60
6Against the Spirit of Party
44%☆ not yet
“The baneful effects of the spirit of party.” — Washington, Farewell Address
Reliable Democratic vote with little documented break from party at a cost.
60
7Morality
75%★ earned
“The time is always right to do what is right.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
No personal-ethics or corruption issue on record; the June 2025 removal was not an ethics matter of his.
60

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331 Hart Senate Office Building
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Scores are Independent 2026’s own editorial read against the Seven Articles — ≥60% earns the star. The first two Articles are critical: fail Open Books or Free & Fair Elections and there is no seal, whatever else holds. Each Article carries its founding quote as the yardstick. On bias →

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