VoterLens
Clarkson University—B.S. in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Data last updated 10/27/2026
Paul Tonko was a public works engineer and state transportation agency employee before holding local office on the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, including service as chairman in 1981. He served in the New York State Assembly from 1983 to 2007, then as president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority from 2007 to 2008 before his election to Congress in 2008.
Committee Assignments: Committee on Energy and Commerce · Committee on the Budget · Committee on Science, Space, and Technology · Subcommittee on Energy · Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, & Critical Materials · Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations
Paul Tonko generally supports expanding access to affordable health care, strengthening the Affordable Care Act, protecting Medicaid and Medicare, and improving mental health and substance-use treatment. His recent healthcare record emphasizes disability services, school-based health centers, Medicare mental health coverage, reproductive health, and crisis-care infrastructure.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Tonko says he will continue to support policies that strengthen the Affordable Care Act and make health care more affordable and accessible for patients.
SourceTonko proposed legislation to increase Medicaid support for certain disability-related services and community-based care providers.
SourceTonko proposed legislation to remove Medicare's lifetime limit on inpatient psychiatric hospital services and expand access to mental health care for seniors and people with disabilities.
SourceTonko proposed legislation to reauthorize the Public Health Service Act grant program for school-based health centers.
SourceTonko co-sponsored legislation to amend the Social Security Act to lower Medicare eligibility to age 50.
SourcePaul Tonko emphasizes middle-class wage growth, local small-business support, targeted tax credits, opposition to trade policies he views as harmful to workers, and clean-energy investment as a source of good-paying jobs. His recent record connects economic development with energy and industrial policy, including proposals for good energy jobs, state industrial competitiveness, and a civilian climate jobs corps.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Tonko proposed legislation focused on expanding good jobs connected to the energy sector and clean-energy economy.
SourceTonko proposed legislation aimed at strengthening state-level industrial competitiveness, connecting manufacturing and energy policy to economic development.
SourceTonko co-sponsored legislation to create climate-related employment opportunities with a focus on jobs and justice.
SourceTonko proposed consumer-commerce legislation targeting automated bulk purchasing practices that can distort online markets and hurt ordinary consumers.
SourceTonko says his economic agenda includes fighting middle-class wage suppression, opposing harmful trade policies such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and supporting small businesses with tools and targeted tax credits to help them expand and hire locally.
SourcePaul Tonko supports comprehensive immigration reform that combines ending illegal entry with legal pathways and treatment for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. His recent statements emphasize immigrant due-process protections, opposition to ICE abuses and detention expansion, abolishing ICE as currently constituted, and restricting immigration enforcement in sensitive locations.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Tonko says he supports comprehensive immigration reform that ends illegal entry, addresses the undocumented population already living in the United States, grows the economy, and creates jobs.
SourceTonko argues ICE has lost public trust and legitimacy, says the agency should be abolished as it currently exists, and calls for immigration enforcement to be reassigned to agencies focused on actual criminal threats.
SourceTonko demanded transparency about ICE operations and called for pausing a planned 100-bed expansion at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility, citing alleged overcrowding, medical-care access problems, solitary confinement, shackling of nonviolent detainees, and poor oversight.
SourceTonko says he is a cosponsor of the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would prohibit immigration enforcement actions at schools, hospitals, and places of worship.
SourceTonko's office provides immigrant Know Your Rights resources stating that everyone, regardless of legal status, has constitutional protections, the right to remain silent, the right to contact a lawyer, and the right to legal process before an immigration judge.
SourcePaul Tonko’s climate and energy stance emphasizes aggressive climate action, a transition to a clean-energy and carbon-free economy, lower household energy burdens, and using clean energy policy to create jobs and strengthen domestic manufacturing. His recent sponsored bills focus on climate pollution standards, energy affordability, regional energy hubs, good clean-energy jobs, and oversight of state energy planning.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Tonko proposed legislation described as creating a roadmap toward a carbon-free economy while lowering energy costs and supporting frontline communities.
SourceTonko proposed a bill focused on reducing energy hardship for households, aligning with his emphasis on clean energy affordability and consumer protection.
SourceTonko proposed legislation to support regional energy hubs, consistent with his clean-energy and energy-innovation agenda.
SourceTonko proposed legislation centered on energy-sector jobs, reflecting his position that climate action and clean energy should create stable, good-paying employment.
SourceTonko states that the United States should embrace cleaner fuels, make energy efficiency a central priority, expand green-collar jobs, and reject the idea that environmental protection conflicts with economic growth.
SourcePaul Tonko presents education as a federal priority centered on giving educators and parents tools for student success, with a particular emphasis on STEM and engineering education. His recent education-related record includes co-sponsoring legislation on student safety and sponsoring legislation to reauthorize school-based health center grants.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Tonko co-sponsored legislation categorized under Education that addresses student safety in schools.
SourceTonko sponsored legislation to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize grants for school-based health centers.
SourceTonko says he fully supports the Educate to Innovate initiative to improve STEM training and move American students to the top in STEM education.
SourceTonko states that he worked with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to introduce the Educating Tomorrow's Engineers Act to boost engineering education in schools.
SourcePaul Tonko frames public safety around preventing violence and reducing avoidable harm, including gun violence prevention, emergency preparedness, school safety, roadway/trucking safety, fire safety, and crisis-response capacity. His public materials emphasize "common sense" gun safety measures and local safety investments, while his recent cosponsorships include suicide/crisis-line implementation and student safety legislation.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Tonko co-sponsored legislation to strengthen implementation of the 9-8-8 suicide and crisis lifeline, a public safety measure focused on behavioral-health crisis response.
SourceTonko co-sponsored legislation aimed at improving student safety in schools, including protections related to restraint and seclusion practices.
SourceTonko says he has worked to keep constituents safe through measures such as chemical-facility safety, limousine safety reforms after the Schoharie crash, truck-parking safety, and fire-hydrant regulatory relief for local fire safety.
SourceTonko supports gun violence prevention policies including universal background checks, enhanced review of firearm transfers, gun-violence prevention warrants with due process, and closing domestic-abuser and stalking loopholes.
SourceTonko's campaign describes climate change as a top global security threat and links climate action to protecting communities from more frequent flooding, violent weather systems, and other public-safety risks.
SourceBallotpedia
https://ballotpedia.org/New_York%27s_20th_Congressional_District_election%2C_2026Fetched: ballot status
Vote Smart
https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/4403/paul-tonkoFetched: biography, age, location, education, committees
U.S. House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/T/TONKO%2C-Paul-%28T000469%29/Fetched: biography, age, education, background
FEC API
https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidate/H8NY21203/totals/Fetched: totalRaised, totalSpent, cashOnHand
OpenWatchdog
https://www.openwatchdog.com/member/T000469Fetched: partyAlignment, missedVotes, keyVotes
OpenSecrets via Now You Know search result
https://nowyouknow.vote/scorecard_T000469Fetched: campaignFinance
OpenSecrets
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/paul-tonko/summary?cid=N00030196&cycle=2026Fetched: campaignFinance
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/endorsementsFetched: endorsements
NYS Public Employees Federation
https://www.pef.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024-Congressional-endorsements.pdfFetched: endorsements
League of Conservation Voters
https://www.lcv.org/congressional-scorecard/members-of-congress/Fetched: ratings
Communications Workers of America
https://scorecard.cwa-union.org/index.php/scorecard/legislators/T000469Fetched: ratings
Institute for Legislative Analysis
https://scorecard.limitedgov.org/lawmakers/T000469Fetched: ratings
American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/acl18002_legislative_report_card_v2.pdfFetched: ratings
Armenian National Committee of America
https://anca.org/congress/paul-tonko-t000469-118/Fetched: ratings
Club for Growth Foundation
https://clubforgrowthfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2020-House-and-Senate-Expanded-Video.pdfFetched: ratings
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko - Healthcare
https://tonko.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=74Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko - Mental Health
https://tonko.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=15243Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko - Jobs & Economic Development
https://tonko.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=15242Fetched: issuePositions
Ballotpedia - New York's 20th Congressional District election, 2026
https://ballotpedia.org/New_York%27s_20th_Congressional_District_election%2C_2026Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko official issues page
https://tonko.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=10360Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko official opinion piece
https://tonko.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4523Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko official press release
https://tonko.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4662Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko official newsletter
https://tonko.house.gov/news/email/show.aspx?ID=PV3H7MUO7MHI7SCQLSAK522B5IFetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko Know Your Rights page
https://tonko.house.gov/know-your-rights/Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko - Energy & the Environment
https://tonko.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=10177Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko official Education issue page
https://tonko.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=73Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko official Issues page
https://tonko.house.gov/issues/Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko official website - Public Safety
https://tonko.house.gov/legislation/public-safety.htmFetched: issuePositions
U.S. Representative Paul Tonko official website - Gun Violence
https://tonko.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=15249Fetched: issuePositions