Composite 5.34 / 10, weighted per the Constitutional Weight Schedule.
Below the 700 bar, Author's Verdict: not supported.
Lands in the Unfit band at credit 566, below the 700 support line, Author's Verdict: not supported. (See section 7 for the full reasoning.)
No military service record on file for Jake LaTurner. Prior public service: Kansas State Treasurer (2017–2021) before election to the U.S. House. Listed here for completeness; not scored.
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?On Jan 6 2021 LaTurner voted to sustain objections to Arizona's and Pennsylvania's certified electors. Per the framework's contamination rule the certification vote itself is NOT scored as a process-subversion finding (a floor objection is the constitutional process operating, not a crit-8 act), and he was sworn in Jan 3 2021, AFTER the Dec 11 2020 Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus, so he is NOT a signatory and earns no crit-8. Outside that, no documented act defending or assaulting the constitutional order at cost; an unremarkable middle for an oath-fidelity record with neither a marquee constitutional stand nor a capping subversion act. [source] |
| M02 | Party Over Country | 4 | why?Bipartisan Index scores were negative across both measured Congresses, below the chamber median for reaching across the aisle. Conduct, not policy: the metric captures cosponsorship behavior, and his was party-line dominant. Below-middle for the cross-party-cooperation attribute. [source] |
| M03 | Persons of Equal Worth | 6 | why?No documented pattern of casting opponents or constituents as illegitimate or as enemies who do not belong; rhetoric ran partisan but within ordinary bounds. No crit-10 enemy-making pattern on record. Solid middle, no high-mark defense of an opponent's dignity, but no documented anti-belonging breach either. [source] |
| M04 | Weaponization of Justice | 6 | why?No documented weaponization of state power against rivals, no abuse-of-office conduct, and (per M01) no crit-8 process-subversion act, he was seated after the Dec 2020 amicus and the Jan-6 floor objection is not crit-8. Clean but unremarkable; nothing affirmatively constraining power either. Middle. [source] |
| M05 | Incitement / Anti-Belonging | 5 | why?Conventional partisan rhetoric without a documented inflammatory or dehumanizing pattern. The Jan 2021 episode, testing positive for COVID hours after an in-person floor vote, is a timing/appearance concern (the positive result came after the vote), weighed lightly, not treated as a finding of knowing misconduct. Honest middle. [source] |
| M06 | Fiduciary Conduct | 6 | why?No ethics sanction, no STOCK Act enforcement finding, and no documented disclosure violation surfaced for LaTurner. Absence of a fiduciary breach supports an above-middle score; held at 6 for lack of an affirmative, demonstrated record of self-accountability or unusual transparency. [source] |
| M07 | Duty to Call Out | 5 | why?No documented instance of calling out his own side at political cost, the higher active-duty bar. Equally, no documented capitulation that abandoned the oath. Voted against the second Trump impeachment, which under the contamination rule is the constitutional process operating and is NOT scored here. Middle for an unexercised call-out duty. [source] |
| M08 | The Discretion Test | 5 | why?No documented test of discretion, no occasion where he declined preferential treatment at personal cost, and none where he exploited position for advantage. The voluntary choice not to seek reelection (citing family) is a personal decision, not a discretion-under-pressure datum. Neutral middle. [source] |
| M09 | The No-Camera Test | 5 | why?No documented private/public contempt gap, no on-the-record evidence the off-camera conduct diverged from the public posture, in either direction. Default middle for an unremarkable, undocumented dimension. [source] |
| M10 | Constituent-vs-Donor Vote | 5 | why?Ordinary constituent service for a Kansas district; sponsored a VA-clinic naming bill that became law. No documented systematic disconnect from constituents and no standout representational achievement. Middle. [source] |
| M11 | Net-Worth Trajectory | 6 | why?Scored ONLY on office-attributable enrichment per the contamination rule. No documented self-dealing, family payments, office-information trades, or foreign-government revenue surfaced. Raw wealth is expressly excluded. Above-middle for the absence of an enrichment breach. [source] |
| M12 | Floor Decorum | 5 | why?Conventional institutional decorum; no documented breach of chamber norms and no notable defense of the institution against spectacle. Routine middle. [source] |
| M13 | Lying & Misleading | 5 | why?No documented sustained-falsehood pattern. He objected to certified electors on Jan 6, a vote not scored as a truthfulness finding under the contamination rule, but no record of repeated demonstrable public falsehoods. Held at the middle for lack of an affirmative truth-telling record. [source] |
| M14 | Knowledge Depth | 5 | why?Modest substantive output, one enacted sponsored bill (VA clinic naming), routine committee work. No evidence of deep policy command nor of pure talking-point posturing. Below-middle-to-middle for substance. [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 |
|---|---|---|
| M02 | Negative Lugar–McCourt Bipartisan Index in both measured Congresses (2023: -0.517; 117th: ~-1.05, ranked ~357th) ↳ cross-party cooperation, below-median cosponsorship behavior | Conduct metric, not policy; party-line voting is lawful and common |
| M01 | Jan 6 2021 votes to sustain objections to Arizona and Pennsylvania certified electors ↳ oath-fidelity, friction with certified election results | Floor objection is the constitutional process operating, NOT crit-8; seated Jan 3 2021 so NOT a Texas v. PA amicus signatory; certification vote itself excluded from scoring per contamination rule |
| M14 | One enacted sponsored bill (VA clinic designation); thin substantive legislative footprint ↳ substance over talking points | Single House term-plus; routine committee participation |
| M05 | Jan 2021 positive COVID test disclosed hours after an in-person floor vote ↳ appearance/judgment concern | Positive result reported as coming after the vote; no documented knowing misconduct, weighed lightly |
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
| 5 | why?Attributes: Courage, Selfless Service, Steadiness, Loyalty. No documented act of conspicuous courage or sacrifice at personal cost, and no documented betrayal of trust. The Jan-6 objection sits in friction with institutional loyalty but is not a crit-class act. Default middle, neither demonstrated nor breached. |
| II | Aspiration & Integrity
| 5 | why?Attributes: Conviction, Authenticity, Self-Reflection, Teachability. A consistent partisan voting identity (Conviction) without a documented record of owning error or cross-pressure self-correction. Middle. |
| III | Protection & Influence
| 5 | why?Attributes: Protection, Courage in Conflict, Stewardship, Accountability. No documented abuse or exploitation of power and no documented affirmative use of power to protect the vulnerable or constrain overreach. Clean but unexercised, middle. |
| IV | Legacy & Virtue
| 5 | why?Attributes: Integrity, Moral Courage, Justice, Love of Truth. A brief, low-drama House tenure ending in voluntary retirement; no enrichment or ethics breach on record, but also no defining institutional-fidelity legacy. Middle. |
| TOTAL: Weak | 20/40 |
Total 20/40, Adequate. A short, partisan-but-clean House record with no marquee virtue and no documented severe breach. The pillars sit at the honest middle because the dimensions are largely unexercised rather than failed.
What the Four Pillars are & the questions behind each →
In their own words
“Congress has taken a toll on my young family that is difficult to quantify.”
Statement announcing he would not seek reelection · Kansas Reflector · CIVIC · cite
Full personnel file
1. Identity
Jacob Andrew "Jake" LaTurner (born 1988). U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district, 2021–2025. Did not seek reelection in 2024, citing the toll of congressional service on his young family. Previously Kansas State Treasurer (2017–2021) and a Kansas state senator. After leaving Congress he joined the strategic-communications/public-affairs sector (FP1 Strategies / PLUS Communications). Recently departed member, in scope for this Congress cohort.
2. Voting / Legislative Profile
Lugar Center–McCourt Bipartisan Index negative in both measured Congresses (2023: -0.517; 117th: ~-1.05, ranked roughly 357th), reflecting party-line cosponsorship behavior. Sponsored one enacted bill of note, H.R. 6991, designating the "Captain Elwin Shopteese VA Clinic" in Wyandotte County, Kansas. The Jan 6 2021 votes to sustain objections to Arizona and Pennsylvania electors are recorded as constitutional-process conduct and are NOT scored as policy; the second Trump impeachment vote is likewise treated as the process operating, per the framework's contamination rule.
3. Constitutional Moments
On January 6, 2021, after the Capitol attack, LaTurner voted to sustain objections to the certified electors of Arizona and Pennsylvania. Under the framework this floor objection is the constitutional process operating and is NOT a crit-8 process-subversion finding. He was sworn into the House on January 3, 2021, after the December 11, 2020 Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus brief, and is therefore NOT among the 126 House signatories; no Criterion-8 flag attaches. No other constitutional-fidelity moment, for or against, is documented at personal cost.
4. Rhetoric & Discourse Profile
Conventional partisan rhetoric without a documented inflammatory, dehumanizing, or sustained enemy-making pattern (no Criterion-10 concern). No high-mark anchor defending an opponent's dignity, either. The lone notable episode is the January 2021 disclosure of a positive COVID test hours after an in-person floor vote, an appearance/judgment item weighed lightly, with the positive result reported as following the vote.
5. Fiduciary Profile
No ethics sanction, no STOCK Act enforcement finding, and no documented financial-disclosure violation surfaced for LaTurner. M11 is scored only on office-attributable enrichment, none documented (no self-dealing, family payments, office-information trades, or foreign-government revenue). Raw wealth is excluded by rule. The fiduciary record is clean-but-unremarkable.
6. Severity-Class Conduct
No documented Severity-class conduct under any of the eight criteria. Criterion 8 (process subversion): the Jan-6 floor objection is the constitutional process operating, not a capping act; and LaTurner was seated AFTER the Dec 2020 Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus, so he is NOT a signatory, no crit-8 flag. Criterion 10 (enemy-making/incitement): no documented pattern. Flag count: zero.
7. What The Framework Says
A short, low-drama House record (2021–2025) that is partisan but documented-clean. The Bipartisan Index ran negative and the legislative footprint is thin, which pull the work-product and cross-aisle measures below the middle. Against that, there is no documented ethics breach, no office-driven enrichment, and, critically, no Criterion-8 or Criterion-10 capping conduct: the Jan-6 objection is the constitutional process operating and is not scored as subversion, and he was seated after the Texas v. PA amicus so is not a signatory. The result is an honest-middle Adequate record, neither a marquee oath-keeper nor a documented breach. No capping flag; the verdict turns on the composite at the human gate.
8. Sources & Where To Look Deeper
Tier 1 (primary): Congress.gov member record L000266 · 2021 Electoral College vote count (roll calls)
Tier 2: Lugar Center–McCourt Bipartisan Index (House 2023) · Kansas Reflector, retirement announcement
Research links: Congress.gov member profile · Ballotpedia · GovTrack · OpenSecrets · Wikipedia
Scores derive from the fixed Constitutional Weight Schedule. The bar does not move. Conduct, not party.