Who's 'Bipartisan'?

Lawmakers' voting records ranked to show patterns

Which one of our state Senators — John Boozman or Tom Cotton — is more likely to side with Democrats to pass ‘bipartisan’ legislation? Probably not difficult to answer: Tom Cotton is so very vocal these days.

What about our Congressmen? That’s a bit more difficult to ascertain, but an analysis by the left-leaning Lugar Center and McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University shows the least bipartisan House lawmaker is Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Republican freshman Senator Katie Britt is the least bipartisan in the Senate.

The report ranks GOP Senator Susan Collins (Maine) and GOP Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania) at the most bipartisan, and all of Congress is ranked down the list.

The analysis editors bemoan the fact that “all eight new Senators who took office in January 2023 ranked in the bottom 30 percent of Senate scores” — that means those new Senators are least likely to vote with colleagues across the aisle.

Arkansas Senator John Boozman comes in at #21 on the Senate list (more likely to be bipartisan); however, Senator Tom Cotton ranks at #94 — in the bottom five (least likely).

You may — or may not — be surprised at where our Congressmen landed on the House listing:

Congressman Bruce Westerman, at #168, is the most likely to be bipartisan, followed by Congressman French Hill at #173, Congressman Steve Womack at #193, and Congressman Rick Crawford at #244. The higher the number, the less likely they are to be bipartisan, but remember, there are 436 Congressman in that list.

(As always, we present information with appropriate sources, whether left-leaning or not. It’s always up to you to check out information so you can decide for yourself. We’ll never give you a paywall link.)