Composite 6.74 / 10, weighted per the Constitutional Weight Schedule.
Below the 700 bar, Author's Verdict: not supported.
Lands in the Sound band at credit 687, below the 700 support line, Author's Verdict: not supported. (See section 7 for the full reasoning.)
No military service on record. Career public service before Congress: Chapel Hill Police Department administrator (from 1987); Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board 1997-2004 (chair 2001-2003); Orange County Board of Commissioners 2004-2012 (chair 2008-2010); North Carolina House of Representatives 2012-2013; North Carolina Senate 2013-2022. Public-service record is context, not a score.
The 14 measures
Each measure is scored 0–10 against an anchored example, with a cited source. Hover/expand why? for the reasoning.
| # | Measure | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| M01 | Duty to Constitution & Rule of Law | 6 | why?Seated January 2023, could not have signed the Dec 2020 Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus and is not on the signatory list; no fake-elector, election-overturning, or process-subversion conduct on record. The imported raw 0 reflected a contamination artifact, not documented behavior, and is corrected. No affirmative high-mark defense of the constitutional order at personal cost either; the record is an ordinary first-term fidelity to oath without a defining stand. Middle. [source] |
| M02 | Party Over Country | 6 | why?Lugar BPI ~-1.49 (ranked near the bottom tier in 2023) indicates below-median cross-aisle cooperation as scored. Offset by concrete bipartisan work, the IMPACT Act passed the Republican House unanimously by voice vote (Sept 2024) and she cosponsored Massie's (R) War Powers Resolution (June 2025). Net middle: a documented willingness to co-author across the aisle on specific bills, against an overall index that runs low. [source] |
| M03 | Persons of Equal Worth | 7 | why?No documented anti-belonging conduct, no record of casting constituents or opponents as people who do not belong. First African American and first woman to represent NC-4; rhetoric stays within ordinary partisan policy disagreement. Held at upper-middle absent a documented high-mark defense-of-an-opponent moment. [source] |
| M04 | Weaponization of Justice | 7 | why?No documented weaponization of state power against rivals, no abuse-of-process pattern, no criterion-class conduct. A first-term member without subpoena or oversight-gavel authority; clean on this axis but without an affirmative power-constraining anchor that would push higher. [source] |
| M05 | Incitement / Anti-Belonging | 7 | why?Rhetoric stays within policy-and-posture criticism (e.g., February-March 2026 statements on foreign policy and the War Powers Resolution) rather than enemy-making or dehumanization. No documented sustained incitement pattern. Ordinary restraint; not an exceptional record of calling out heat on her own side. [source] |
| M06 | Fiduciary Conduct | 7 | why?No ethics finding, sanction, or active complaint on record; not named among the members flagged for missing disclosures. Clean fiduciary appearance with no affirmative accountability event to score higher. Upper-middle by default. [source] |
| M07 | Duty to Call Out | 6 | why?The active-duty standard is calling out one's OWN side at cost. Cosponsoring Massie's (R) War Powers Resolution shows cross-aisle willingness on a national-security question, but there is no documented instance of breaking with her own party at real political cost. Middle: meets the floor, does not clear the higher bar. [source] |
| M08 | The Discretion Test | 7 | why?No documented abuse of discretion or preferential self-treatment. Decades of local-to-state public service (school board, county commission, NC House and Senate) before Congress without a discretion-failure event on record. Upper-middle absent a purest-form discretion test like declining a personal benefit. [source] |
| M09 | The No-Camera Test | 7 | why?No documented public/private contempt gap; off-camera reputation is not contradicted by the on-record posture. No reported staff-mistreatment or two-faced-conduct allegations. Clean but without an affirmative consistency anchor. [source] |
| M10 | Constituent-vs-Donor Vote | 7 | why?Represents NC-4 (Durham/Chapel Hill area), a district whose preferences her voting record broadly tracks; survived a competitive March 2026 primary by a narrow margin, indicating contested but maintained constituent standing. No documented donor-over-constituent capture. Upper-middle. [source] |
| M11 | Net-Worth Trajectory | 8 | why?M11 scores ONLY office-attributable enrichment, self-dealing, family payments, office-information trades, foreign-government revenue. No such conduct on record: no STOCK Act flag, no family-payroll or office-info-trade allegations. Raw wealth (modest by congressional standards; career public servant and former police administrator) is explicitly NOT penalized. High on a clean office-enrichment axis. [source] |
| M12 | Floor Decorum | 7 | why?Maintains ordinary institutional decorum; no documented floor-disruption, decorum-strike, or spectacle conduct. Honors regular order without an exceptional institution-over-self moment to push higher. Upper-middle. [source] |
| M13 | Lying & Misleading | 7 | why?No sustained documented-falsehood pattern; public statements track conventional policy framing rather than fabrication or election-denial. No affirmative truth-telling-at-cost anchor either. Upper-middle. [source] |
| M14 | Knowledge Depth | 7 | why?Substantive legislative work grounded in subject matter, the IMPACT Act (cement/concrete/asphalt decarbonization) drew on technical policy and passed unanimously. Long municipal-and-state governance background supplies real institutional substance. Upper-middle for a first-term member. [source] |
Why not higher, the points withheld
The standard is the seat; the ceiling is a perfect 10. Every withheld point traces to documented conduct, weighed where the measures and attributes say it belongs, shown openly here, the same way the earned points are.
| Where | Documented conduct | Mitigation weighed |
|---|---|---|
| M01 | Ordinary first-term oath fidelity with no defining constitutional stand at personal cost; clean of subversion but unremarkable ↳ Constitutional fidelity, no high-mark anchor | Seated 2023; no Texas v. PA amicus possible, no subversion conduct, corrected from contaminated raw 0 |
| M02 | Lugar Bipartisan Index ~-1.49 (2023), near the bottom tier as scored ↳ Below-median cross-aisle cooperation | IMPACT Act passed unanimously; cosponsored Massie (R) War Powers Resolution, concrete bipartisan acts offset the index |
| M07 | No documented instance of breaking with her own party at real political cost ↳ Active call-out duty, meets floor, not higher bar | Cross-aisle War Powers cosponsorship shows willingness on national-security questions |
| Pillar II | No documented conviction-at-cost or self-correction event; record is conventional partisan alignment ↳ Conviction/Authenticity, unremarkable | No drag toward the opposites either; clean but unproven on this pillar |
| Pillar III | Low bipartisan index and a narrowly-survived primary indicate contested standing ↳ Reliability, contested constituent standing | No exploitation; district preferences broadly tracked |
The Four Pillars, worthy to be followed?
A separate axis from the 14 measures. The measures ask did their conduct meet the standard; the Pillars ask is this someone worthy to be elevated and followed at all. The two can diverge, when they do, the divergence is the finding.
| # | Pillar | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Trust & Loyalty
| 7 | why?Attributes: Selfless Service, Steadiness, a long unbroken record of local-to-federal public service without a loyalty-failure event. No drag toward Self-Interest or Collapse on record; held at 7 absent an extraordinary courage-at-cost anchor. |
| II | Aspiration & Integrity
| 6 | why?Attributes: Conviction, Authenticity, conventional partisan alignment without a documented conviction-at-cost or self-correction moment that would distinguish the record. No integrity drag, but nothing affirmatively proving the pillar either; the lowest of the four. |
| III | Protection & Influence
| 7 | why?Attributes: Stewardship, Accountability, clean fiduciary record, no exploitation of office, substantive legislative work (IMPACT Act). Held at 7 by the absence of a power-constraining anchor and a below-median bipartisan index. |
| IV | Legacy & Virtue
| 7 | why?Attributes: Integrity, Love of Truth, no falsehood pattern, no ethics finding, a barrier-breaking representational role. A respectable but still-forming first-term legacy; no drags toward Favoritism or Ego, and no extraordinary virtue anchor. |
| TOTAL: Moderate | 27/40 |
Total 27/40, Adequate-to-Sound. A clean, conventional first-term record: no documented misconduct on any pillar, and no extraordinary character anchor to lift it into the top tier. Honest middle.
What the Four Pillars are & the questions behind each →
In their own words
“Congress must reconvene to pass the bipartisan War Powers Resolution.”
Statement urging Congress to reassert its war-powers role · Foushee House office press release · CIVIC · cite
“The IMPACT Act will decarbonize and improve the efficiency of cement, concrete, and asphalt production.”
On her bipartisan IMPACT Act passing the House unanimously by voice vote · Foushee House office / congressional record · PRINCIPLED · cite
Full personnel file
1. Identity
Valerie Jean Foushee (born May 7, 1956, Chapel Hill, NC). U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 4th congressional district since January 2023, the first African American and first woman to represent the district. B.A. political science and Afro/African-American studies, UNC-Chapel Hill (2008). Prior service: Chapel Hill PD administrator; Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board (1997-2004); Orange County Commission (2004-2012); NC House (2012-2013); NC Senate (2013-2022).
2. Voting / Legislative Profile
Lugar/McCourt Bipartisan Index ~-1.49 in 2023 (below-median cross-aisle cooperation as scored), offset by concrete bipartisan acts: the IMPACT Act (cement/concrete/asphalt decarbonization) passed the Republican House unanimously by voice vote (Sept 2024), and she cosponsored Rep. Thomas Massie's (R) War Powers Resolution on Iran hostilities (June 2025). First-term-plus member; committee and substantive policy work grounded in her long municipal-and-state governance background. Policy positions are NOT scored in either direction per the framework.
3. Constitutional Moments
Seated January 2023, not eligible to have signed the December 2020 Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus and not on its signatory list; no fake-elector, election-overturning, or certification-subversion conduct on record. In early 2026 she publicly urged Congress to reconvene to pass the bipartisan War Powers Resolution, asserting the legislature's constitutional war-powers role. No defining institutional-fidelity stand at personal cost, and no process-subversion conduct, a clean but ordinary first-term record on this axis.
4. Rhetoric & Discourse Profile
Public statements stay within policy-and-posture disagreement rather than enemy-making or dehumanization; no documented sustained incitement pattern. No high-mark defense-of-an-opponent anchor on record either. Net upper-middle: ordinary rhetorical restraint without an exceptional moment in either direction.
5. Fiduciary Profile
No ethics finding, sanction, or active complaint on record; not among the members flagged in 2025 reviews for missing financial disclosures. No office-attributable enrichment, no STOCK Act flag, no family-payroll or office-information-trade allegations, no foreign-government revenue. A career public servant (former police administrator and local/state officeholder) of modest means by congressional standards; raw wealth is explicitly not penalized. Clean fiduciary axis.
6. Severity-Class Conduct
No documented Severity-class conduct under any of the eight criteria. Seated 2023, she could not and did not sign the Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus and is not on the signatory list; no process-subversion, no sustained enemy-making or incitement pattern. Flag count: zero.
7. What The Framework Says
A clean, conventional first-term record. The headline correction is M01: the imported raw 0 was a contamination artifact, not documented conduct, Foushee was seated in 2023, could not have signed the Dec 2020 amicus, and has no subversion behavior on record, so the floor is unwarranted. What remains is an honest middle: no documented misconduct on any axis, a below-median bipartisan index offset by real bipartisan bills, and no extraordinary character anchor lifting the record into the top tier. Adequate-to- Sound, depending where the conventional middle settles after the gate.
8. Sources & Where To Look Deeper
Tier 1 (primary): Congress.gov member profile · House Financial Disclosure / Ethics record
Tier 2: Lugar Center Bipartisan Index · Ballotpedia
Research links: Congress.gov member profile · Ballotpedia · GovTrack profile · House office · Wikipedia
Scores derive from the fixed Constitutional Weight Schedule. The bar does not move. Conduct, not party.