Today, the next edition of the lifetime vote ratings of all members of Congress. Today, it's the liberal end of the House of Representatives. Again, my methodology: to get an idea of the ideological balance of Congress, I take the yearly vote ratings from two organzations: one liberal (Americans for Democratic Action, or the ADA) and one conservative (the American Conservative Union, or the ACU). I use these two for the sake of historical comparison: the ADA has taken vote ratings since the late 40s, and the ACU since 1971. That way, I can compare the ideology of today's members of Congress against those from past decades, all evaluated using the same rating methodology. It's also a good way to compare how a current member of Congress voted 2-3 decades ago vs. today.
I average the ratings from the ADA & ACU to come up with what I think is an appropriate average number of where a Senator or Representative is on a scale of 0-100, 0 being most conservative, 100 most liberal. These are lifetime ratings, updated with votes from 2007.
Here's where I got my figures:
ADA
ACU
You may ask why I don't incorporate other ratings, especially the well-known National Journal ratings. For one, it takes A LOT of time to do these averages; I'd include more ratings if I got paid to do it! Second, the National Journal ratings go back to the 1990s, so they're not as historically viable as the ADA & ACU (and, they seem to go behind a subscription firewall after awhile, so for non-subscription folks like me, they're somewhat inaccessible). Third, they seem to spread every members ratings evenly on a scale of 1-100; whereas the ADA & ACU determine simply how liberal or conservative a member is...thus, producing a more accurate view of where on the ideological scale a member of Congress is.
I'm splitting the house into 3 diaries. Tomorrow I'll publish the middle section of the House, and finish on Friday with the conservatives.
One point on today's ratings: You'll see many freshmen with a perfect liberal score of 100. This is likely because there's only 1 year of ratings, versus the several years of lifetime ratings for other representatives. As the years go by, their numbers will almost certainly drop (it's nearly impossible to maintain a "perfect" score of 0 or 100 between both the ADA & ACU ratings over multiple years). Some (like, say, Tim Walz) probably have abnormally high ratings for that one year they've been in office. If he stays in office for a few years, I'd guess he'll be more in the high 80s to low 90s. Also, as I referenced yesterday, having Democratic control of Congress means fewer votes on socially conservative "wedge" issues, and more votes on issues that all Democrats can agree on, regardless of how liberal or conservative they are. Some of these Representatives would likely have a lower score if the GOP was in charge, based on the bills they'd have to vote on.
Also, this is not an absolute view of Congressional ideology: we are at the whims of what the ADA & ACU consider to be important votes. And, just because someone has a high liberal score (see: Wynn, Albert) doesn't mean they vote the right way on legislation that really matters to a lot of progressives.
By the way, here is yesterday's Senate diary:
Senate ratings
So, here they are, those in the House with a score higher than 80:
Laura Richardson (D-CA)--100
Joe Courtney (D-CT)--100
Christopher Murphy (D-CT)--100
Hank Johnson (D-GA)--100
Mazie Hirono (D-HI)--100
Phil Hare (D-IL)--100
John Yarmuth (D-KY)--100
John Sarbanes (D-MD)--100
Niki Tsongas (D-MA)--100
Keith Ellison (D-MN)--100
Tim Walz (D-MN)--100
Paul Hodes (D-NH)--100
Michael Arcuri (D-NY)--100
John Hall (D-NY)--100
Betty Sutton (D-OH)--100
Stephen Cohen (D-TN)--100
Hilda Solis (D-CA)--99
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)--98.8
Linda Sanchez (D-CA)--98.8
Albio Sires (D-NJ)--98.8
Gwen Moore (D-WI)--98.5
John Tierney (D-MA)--98
Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)--97.9
Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)--97.8
James McGovern (D-MA)--97.8
Doris Matsui (D-CA)--97.8
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)--97.6
Kathy Castor (D-FL)--97.5
Ron Klein (D-FL)--97.5
Dave Loebsack (D-IA)--97.5
Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)--97.5
Joe Sestak (D-PA)--97.5
Peter Welch (D-VT)--97.5
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)--97.4
Barney Frank (D-MA)--97.1
John Olver (D-MA)--97.1
Betty McCollum (D-MN)--97
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)--96.9
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL)--96.8
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)--96.7
Grace Napolitano (D-CA)--96.7
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)--96.5
Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)--96.4
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)--96.3
Elijah Cummings (D-MD)--96.3
Danny Davis (D-IL)--96.3
Tom Udall (D-NM)--96.2
Thomas Allen (D-ME)--96.1
Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI)--96.1
Michael Honda (D-CA)--95.9
Jose Serrano (D-NY)--95.8
Ed Pastor (D-AZ)--95.7
Sam Farr (D-CA)--95.7
Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)--95.7
John Lewis (D-GA)--95.6
Jerry McNerney (D-CA)--95.5
Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)--95.5
Patrick Murphy (D-PA)--95.5
Steve Kagen (D-WI)--95.5
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)--95.5
Michael Capuano (D-MA)--95.5
Sander Levin (D-MI)--95.5
Pete Stark (D-CA)--95.5
*Julia Carson (D-IN)--95.4
Chaka Fattah (D-PA)--95.3
George Miller (D-CA)--95.2
Edward Markey (D-MA)--95
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)--95
Bruce Braley (D-IA)--95
Donald Payne (D-NJ)--95
William Delahunt (D-MA)--95
John Larson (D-CT)--94.9
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)--94.9
Henry Waxman (D-CA)--94.8
Russ Carnahan (D-MO)--94.8
Barbara Lee (D-CA)--94.8
Bobby Rush (D-IL)--94.7
Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)--94.7
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH)--94.7
Anthony Weiner (D-NY)--94.6
Maxine Waters (D-CA)--94.6
Nita Lowey (D-NY)--94.6
Bob Filner (D-CA)--94.5
Tim Bishop (D-NY)--94.5
Xavier Becerra (D-CA)--94.5
Tom Lantos (D-CA)--94.4
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)--94.3
Jim McDermott (D-WA)--94.3
Brad Miller (D-NC)--94.2
Diana DeGette (D-CO)--94.1
Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX)--94
Robert Wexler (D-FL)--94
Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)--93.8
Charles Rangel (D-NY)--93.8
Louise Slaughter (D-NY)--93.8
Brad Sherman (D-CA)--93.6
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)--93.5
Robert Brady (D-PA)--93.2
Rush Holt (D-NJ)--93.2
Eliot Engel (D-NY)--93.1
Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)--92.9
Melvin Watt (D-NC)--92.9
Gary Ackerman (D-NY)--92.8
G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)--92.7
Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)--92.6
John Conyers (D-MI)--92.6
Bobby Scott (D-VA)--92.5
Susan Davis (D-CA)--92.3
Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)--92.2
Charles Gonzalez (D-TX)--92.1
Albert Wynn (D-MD)--92
Howard Berman (D-CA)--91.9
Mark Udall (D-CO)--91.9
Kendrick Meek (D-FL)--91.7
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)--91.7
Jay Inslee (D-WA)--91.7
Al Green (D-TX)--91.7
David Wu (D-OR)--91.5
Steven Rothman (D-NJ) 91.5
*Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA)--91.4
Corrine Brown (D-FL)--91.4
*Marty Meehan (D-MA)--91.2
Adam Schiff (D-CA)--91.1
Edolphus Towns (D-NY)--91
Lois Capps (D-CA)--90.9
Alcee Hastings (D-FL)--90.9
Richard Neal (D-MA)--90.8
Diane Watson (D-CA)--90.7
Anna Eshoo (D-CA)--90.7
Gregory Meeks (D-NY)--90.6
Patrick Kennedy (D-RI)--90.5
William Lacy Clay (D-MO)--90.4
Allyson Schwartz (D-PA)--90.2
Joseph Crowley (D-NY)--90.1
Brian Higgins (D-NY)--89.8
Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX)--89.7
Bennie Thompson (D-MS)--89.7
Tim Ryan (D-OH)--89.7
James Clyburn (D-SC)--89.3
Darlene Hooley (D-OR)--89.2
David Obey (D-WI)--89.2
Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)--89.1
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)--89
Mike Thompson (D-CA)--88.8
Steny Hoyer (D-MD)--88.8
Peter DeFazio D-OR)--88.7
David Price (D-NC)--88.1
Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)--88
Dale Kildee (D-MI)--87.7
Frank Pallone (D-NJ)--87.6
Ellen Tauscher (D-CA)--87.6
Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)--87.6
Yvette Clarke (D-NY)--87.5
Zack Space (D-OH)--87.5
Brian Baird (D-WA)--87.5
James Oberstar (D-MN)--87.4
Michael Michaud (D-ME)--86.6
Rick Larsen (D-WA)--86.4
Steve Israel (D-NY)--86.4
Joe Baca (D-CA)--86.2
Harry Mitchell (D-AZ)--86
Shelley Berkley (D-NV)--85.9
James Langevin (D-RI)--85.9
Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD)--85.8
Stephen Lynch (D-MA)--85.7
Peter Visclosky (D-IN)--85.5
Ron Kind (D-WI)--85.4
Vic Snyder (D-AR)--84.8
Norman Dicks (D-WA)--84.6
John Dingell (D-MI)--83.9
Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)--83.7
Jason Altmire (D-PA)--83.5
Dennis Moore (D-KS)--83.5
William Jefferson (D-LA)--82.8
Adam Smith (D-WA)--82.4
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)--82.2
James Moran (D-VA)--82.2
Tim Mahoney (D-FL)--82
Charlie Wilson (D-OH)--82
Michael McNulty (D-NY)--81.1
Robert Andrews (D-NJ)--81
Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)--81
Gene Green (D-TX)--80.6
Rick Boucher (D-VA)--80.4
* - Left office in 2007 through resignation or death.