Legislators.search

From Sunlabs wiki

legislators.search does a fuzzy-matching text search of the legislators. The results are legislator names associated with scores ranging from 0 to 1 with 1.0 being an assumed "perfect match." The search algorithm can handle a wide variety of inputs including different orders for the names (last, first or first last), nicknames, minor typos, and more.

Contents 1 Parameters 2 Return Value 3 Example Calls 3.1 legislators.search?name=Teddy Kennedey 3.2 legislators.search.xml?name=TESTER,%20JOHN

Parameters

name

name to search for

threshold

optional threshold parameter specifying minimum score to return (defaults to 0.8, lower values not recommended)

all_legislators

optional parameter to search all legislators in API, not just those currently in office (false by default)

Return Value

Legislators are returned in the same format described for [Sunlight_API_Documentation/legislators|legislators.get and legislators.getList].

Example Calls

legislators.search?name=Teddy Kennedey

{"response":
  {"results": [
    {"result":
      {"score": 0.87827505827505825,
        "legislator": {"district": "Senior Seat", "title": "Sen",
        "eventful_id": "P0-001-000016085-1", "in_office": 1, "state": "MA",
        "votesmart_id": "53305", "party": "D", "email": "",
        "crp_id": "N00000308", "website": "http://kennedy.senate.gov/",
        "fax": "202-224-2417", "govtrack_id": "300059", "firstname": "Edward",
        "middlename": "M.", "lastname": "Kennedy",
        "congress_office": "317 Russell Senate Office Building",
        "bioguide_id": "K000105",
        "webform": "http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/contact.cfm",
        "nickname": "Ted", "phone": "202-224-4543", "fec_id": "S6MA00015",
        "gender": "M", "name_suffix": "Sr.", "twitter_id": "",
        "sunlight_old_id": "fakeopenID487",
        "congresspedia_url": "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Edward_Kennedy"
}}}]}}

legislators.search.xml?name=TESTER,%20JOHN

<response>
  <results>
    <result>
    <score>0.929783549784</score>
    <legislator>
      <district>Senior Seat</district>
      <title>Sen</title>
      <eventful_id>P0-001-000016085-1</eventful_id>
      <in_office>1</in_office>
      <state>MA</state>
      <votesmart_id>53305</votesmart_id>
      <party>D</party>
      <email/>
      <crp_id>N00000308</crp_id>
      <website>http://kennedy.senate.gov/</website>
      <fax>202-224-2417</fax>
      <govtrack_id>300059</govtrack_id>
      <firstname>Edward</firstname>
      <middlename>M.</middlename>
      <lastname>Kennedy</lastname>
      <congress_office>317 Russell Senate Office Building</congress_office>
      <bioguide_id>K000105</bioguide_id>
      <webform>http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/contact.cfm</webform>
      <nickname>Ted</nickname>
      <phone>202-224-4543</phone>
      <fec_id>S6MA00015</fec_id>
      <gender>M</gender>
      <name_suffix>Sr.</name_suffix>
      <twitter_id/>
      <sunlight_old_id>fakeopenID487</sunlight_old_id>
      <congresspedia_url>
      http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Edward_Kennedy
      </congresspedia_url>
    </legislator>
    </result>
    
    <strong>...</strong>
  </results>
</response>