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Getting Started

Drafting Guide

Read a legislator, and build a roster balanced across both chambers.

3 min read

Your draft is where your roster begins. Lex will show you how to read a legislator and build a balanced team.

Drafting your teamBrowse legislators, draft your picks, and build a roster balanced across both chambers, with Lex.Browse the boardDraft your picksBuild a balanced roster
Browse, pick, and balance your roster.

Three ways a draft happens

  • Capitol Bots: you pick in the draft room, one legislator at a time, against five automated opponents. Nothing to schedule.
  • Free public league: the draft runs automatically the moment the sixth person joins, so nobody has to be online at the same time.
  • Private league: everyone drafts live in the room, taking turns in snake order.

Your draft board

Your draft board is your own ranked list of Congress, and you build it once. Swipe through the legislators, sort them into must-draft, target, and pass, and the board saves to your account. Any draft that picks for you then works down your list, in your order, instead of simply taking the highest scorer left on the board. Reorder it whenever you like, and if you would rather not rank anyone at all, leave it empty and the draft takes the best available legislator for you.

How the draft works

Managers take turns drafting real members of Congress onto their rosters, one pick at a time, until every roster is full. Once a legislator is drafted in your league, no one else can draft them.

How to read a legislator

How to read a legislatorA legislator card showing chamber, committee role, and activity level, with annotations.Rep. Jordan LeeHouse, Judiciary (Chair)ActivityBills this month: 6Chamber and committee roleMore activity, more points
A few signals tell you how many points a legislator is likely to earn.
  • Activity level: a busy floor schedule and lots of bills mean steady points.
  • Activity over titles: what a member actually does, casting votes, introducing bills, building coalitions, is what scores, regardless of their role.
  • Chamber: you need both Senators and Representatives to field a legal lineup.
  • Steadiness: reliable vote-casters score every single week Congress is in session.

Build a balanced roster

Aim for a mix of high-activity members from both chambers, plus a few steady scorers. Because your active lineup must hold at least 3 Senators and 5 Representatives, draft enough of each so you are never short on game day.