How many current U.S. elected Democrats and Republicans have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct since 2000?

1. What the major trackers actually count — and why their totals differ

The Associated Press’ cataloging of state-level cases since the #MeToo era has produced figures such as “at least 147 state lawmakers in 44 states accused since 2017” (reported by PBS) and similar tallies of 156 across 44 states in other outlets, reflecting updates and different cut‑offs; NBC and PBS cite the same AP effort but show slightly different snapshots because the database is dynamic and jurisdictions report at different times ^{[2] [1]}. Academic and nonprofit efforts use yet other windows: The Conversation’s analysis covering the post‑2016 period found roughly 138 government officials reported for sexual harassment, assault or misconduct, of whom 111 were elected officials — but that study emphasizes the broader “government officials” category (appointed and elected) and estimates that about one quarter of accused officials remain in office, not a partisan breakdown ^[3]. Those three sources demonstrate why a single number for “current elected Democrats and Republicans accused since 2000” cannot be extracted without additional raw-data harmonization across time, office, and definitional choices ^{[2] [1] [3]}.

2. What the sources do show about scale and where accusations cluster

Collectively, reporting makes clear the problem is substantial and concentrated at the state level: one recent report cataloged some 145 sitting state lawmakers tied to roughly 400 allegations between 2013 and 2024 — a dataset focused on state legislatures rather than federal officials — and shows that many accused remain in office or face varied consequences, from expulsion to no apparent sanction ^[4]. National compilations and long lists (e.g., Reuters, Newsweek, Wikipedia compilations) catalog dozens of high‑profile federal figures from both parties accused over the past two decades — from governors and members of Congress to presidents and judicial nominees — but these lists do not consistently indicate which accused are currently serving, nor do they produce an across‑the‑board partisan count for incumbents ^{[5] [6] [7]}.

3. What cannot be concluded from the reporting provided

None of the supplied sources offers a clean, up‑to‑date, partisan breakdown of the number of currently serving Democrats versus Republicans who have been publicly accused since 2000. The AP/PBS/NBC counts focus mainly on 2017 onward or 2013–2024 windows and on state lawmakers; The Conversation and other academic summaries use other start dates and include appointed officials — so any attempt to state a precise number of “current U.S. elected Democrats and Republicans” accused since 2000 would require access to raw, reconciled datasets not present in the reporting provided here ^{[2] [1] [3] [4]}.

4. A cautious, evidence‑based reading and next steps for precision

Based on the sources, a responsible answer is that hundreds of accusations have been publicly reported against elected officials across both parties since the mid‑2010s, with at least roughly 147–156 state lawmakers accused since 2017 and studies identifying more than 100 elected officials in post‑2016 datasets — but the precise count of current, partisan incumbents accused since 2000 cannot be derived from these reports alone without additional, harmonized data about timing, office, and partisan affiliation ^{[2] [1] [3] [4]}. To produce the exact partisan counts requested would require merging AP’s state‑level database, The Conversation’s dataset, and federal compilations and then filtering for “currently in office” and a consistent start date of 2000 — steps not possible using only the reporting provided here ^{[2] [3]}.

5. Caveats, competing narratives and implicit agendas in source coverage

Coverage differs by outlet and motive: databases and public‑interest outlets emphasize accountability and scale (AP/PBS/19th), while long‑form lists and retrospectives (Newsweek, Wikipedia compilations, Reuters factboxes) can skew toward prominent federal names that drive public perception; partisan actors may also amplify selective cases that benefit political narratives, so cross‑referencing multiple, transparent datasets is essential before producing a party‑by‑party incumbent count ^{[2] [6] [5] [7]}.