GovTrack API

Free GovTrack API with no key: US senators and representatives, their roles, parties, districts and voting records across sessions of Congress. Tested.

No API key requiredCORS enabledHTTPSFree tier

Endpoint tested and returned HTTP 200 on 20 Aug 2026

What is the GovTrack API?

The GovTrack API is a free, key-free API providing data on members of the United States Congress — current and historical senators and representatives, their party, state, district, committee roles and voting records.

GovTrack has tracked US Congress for two decades, and its API exposes the legislator database that underpins it. Every role is a time-bounded record, so you can query who represented a district in any given Congress, not just today.

The role-based model is worth understanding: a person is separate from their roles, so someone who served in the House and later the Senate has multiple role records. Query roles when you want 'who represents X', and people when you want a biography.

Quick facts

Base URL: https://www.govtrack.us/api/v2
Authentication: No API key required.
Rate limit: No published hard limit; the maintainers ask for reasonable use.
Pricing: Free. GovTrack asks for attribution.
CORS: Enabled — callable directly from browser JavaScript
Official docs: Read the docs

How to use the GovTrack API

Every request below was executed against the live API on 20 Aug 2026, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.

1. List current members of Congress

GET https://www.govtrack.us/api/v2/role?current=true&limit=1

curl

curl 'https://www.govtrack.us/api/v2/role?current=true&limit=1'

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch("https://www.govtrack.us/api/v2/role?current=true&limit=1");
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get("https://www.govtrack.us/api/v2/role?current=true&limit=1", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

Response — HTTP 200 (truncated)

{
  "meta": {
    "limit": 1,
    "offset": 0,
    "total_count": 539
  },
  "objects": [
    {
      "caucus": null,
      "congress_numbers": [
        117,
        118,
        119
      ],
      "current": true,
      "description": "Senior Senator for Maine",
      "district": null,
      "enddate": "2027-01-03",
      "extra": {
        "address": "413 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510",
        "contact_form": "https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact",
        "office": "413 Dirksen Senate Office Building",
        "rss_url": "http://www.collins.senate.gov/public/?a=rss.feed"
      },
      "leadership_title": null,
      "party": "Republican",
      "person": {
        "bioguideid": "C001035",
        "birthday": "1952-12-07",
        "cspanid": 45738,
        "fediverse_webfinger": null,
        "firstname": "Susan",
        "gender": "female",
        "gender_label": "Female",
        "lastname": "Collins",
        "link": "https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/susan_collins/300025",
        "middlename": "M.",
        "name": "Sen. Susan Collins [R-ME]",
        "namemod": "",
        "nickname": "",
        "osid": "N00000491",
        "pvsid": null,
        "sortname": "Collins, Susan (Sen.) [R-ME]",
        "twitterid": "SenatorCollins",
        "youtubeid": "SenatorSusanCollins"
      },
      "phone": "202-224-2523",
      "role_type": "senator",
      "role_type_label": "Senator",
      "senator_class": "class2",
      "senator_class_label": "Class 2",
      "senator_rank": "senior",
      "senator_rank_label": "Senior",
      "startdate"

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`role`	path	Optional	Legislator roles — the main endpoint. `role`
`current`	boolean	Optional	Restrict to currently serving members. `true`
`state`	string	Optional	Two-letter state code. `CA`
`role_type`	string	Optional	senator or representative. `senator`
`limit / offset`	integer	Optional	Pagination controls. `20`

Response fields

meta.total_countinteger: Total roles matching the query.
objects[].personobject: The legislator — name, birthday, gender and social handles.
objects[].role_type_labelstring: Senator or Representative.
objects[].partystring: Party affiliation during this role.
objects[].state / districtstring|integer: State and, for representatives, district number.
objects[].startdate / enddatestring: Term start and end dates.
objects[].congress_numbersarray: Which Congresses this role spans.

What you can build with the GovTrack API

Build a 'who represents me' lookup by state and district
Track the composition of Congress over time
Analyse party balance historically
Power civic engagement and accountability tools

Common errors and how to fix them

Person vs role confusion

A legislator can have several role records.

Fix: Query roles for representation questions; a person who moved from House to Senate has multiple roles.

Empty results for a district

District numbers are integers and change after redistricting.

Fix: Combine state and district, and specify the Congress number for historical queries.

Large responses

Historical queries span two centuries.

Fix: Always pass `current=true` unless you specifically want history.

GovTrack API — frequently asked questions

Is the GovTrack API free?

Yes, free with no API key. GovTrack asks for attribution when you use their data.

What is the difference between a person and a role?

A person is the individual; a role is one term of service. Someone who served in the House then the Senate has multiple roles, so query roles when asking who represents a district.

Can I get historical members of Congress?

Yes, omit current=true and filter by congress_numbers. The database covers two centuries, so always constrain the query.

Does it include voting records?

Yes, through the related vote endpoints, which link legislators to individual roll call votes.

Tools that pair with this API

JSON Formatter

Format, beautify and minify JSON online with 2-space, 4-space or tab indentation. Sort keys alphabetically and catch syntax errors instantly — free and private.

CSV to JSON Converter

Convert CSV to a JSON array of objects online. Header-row detection, comma/semicolon/tab delimiters and pretty-printed output — 100% in your browser.

Alternatives to GovTrack API

If GovTrack does not fit, these government & open data apis cover similar ground. Every one was called before publishing, and each links to its own reference page with a working curl command and the response it returned.

API	What it does	Auth	CORS	Last verified
Federal Register	Free US Federal Register API with no key: executive orders, rules, notices and proposed regulations with full text search back to 1994. Tested curl example.	No key	Yes	19 Aug 2026
USAspending	Free US federal spending API with no key: agency budgets, contracts, grants and award data covering trillions in government spending. Tested curl example.	No key	No	19 Aug 2026
UK Parliament Members	Free UK Parliament Members API with no key: MPs and Lords, constituencies, party affiliation, contact details and voting records. Tested curl example.	No key	No	19 Aug 2026
UK Police Data	Free UK Police API with no key: street-level crime data, police forces, neighbourhood teams and stop-and-search records by location and month. Tested example.	No key	Yes	19 Aug 2026
India Postal PIN Code	Free India PIN code API with no key: look up post offices, district, state and delivery status for any Indian postal code, or search by name. Tested.	No key	No	20 Aug 2026
data.gov.ie	Free Irish government open data API with no key: 22,000+ datasets with EU high-value dataset flags and legislation references. Standard CKAN interface. Tested example included.	No key	No	21 Aug 2026

All Government & Open Data APIs

GovTrack is an independent third-party service and is not affiliated with ByteTools or ByteVancer. Details on this page were verified on 20 Aug 2026; always check the official documentation before relying on this API in production, as terms and limits can change.