Colorado’s three Republicans in Congress voted against their party far more often than their Democratic counterparts over the past two years, according to a The Colorado Sun shirttail analysis. They also missed more votes.
The Sun analyzed congressional floor votes by the state’s two Democratic U.S. senators and seven U.S. House members using data from ProPublica.
Here’s a look at what we learned about voting from January 2021 through last month.
The average Republican in the House voted against the majority in their party on floor votes 8.3% of the time, ProPublica determined.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Garfield County Republican, voted against the majority of her party much more often – 25.2% of the time.
Her first vote in opposition to the majority of the House Republican caucus came during her third week in office, when she voted on Jan. 21, 2021, against allowing former military members to serve as secretary of defense within four years of retiring, instead of seven.
Of the 184 Republicans voting on the bill, 121 voted for it, including U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, of Windsor.
U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, of Colorado Springs, also voted against the bill, but he later said he intended to vote for it.
In April 2021, Boebert and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., were the only “no” votes on a measure to continue a bone marrow program for cancer patients. A few days before Christmas, Boebert was among 28 Republicans who voted against a GOP-sponsored measure aimed at improving investigation of child abuse and trafficking. Lamborn voted for that bill – which passed – while Buck didn’t cast a vote.
All told, Boebert voted against the majority of other Republican House members 244 times in 997 floor votes in her first two-year term in office.
Buck voted against members of his party on floor votes nearly 19% of the time, voting no on 175 out of 997 votes. He was one of 24 “no” votes on a bipartisan bill to create a competition for patents that address a humanitarian mission. Boebert and Lamborn both voted for the measure.
And Buck was among 100 Republicans voting with Democrats to pass the Speak Out Act limiting nondisclosure clauses in sexual assault or harassment laws. Boebert and Lamborn were among the 109 Republicans who opposed the bill.
Lamborn voted against his party close to 6% of the time, 54 times on 997 votes.
Colorado’s seven Democrats rarely crossed party lines during the 117th Congress. Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress during the session.
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, of Centennial, voted against the Democratic majority 15 times. U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, of Arvada, voted against his party 10 times. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Reps. Diana DeGette and Joe Neguse voted against their party less than 1% of the time.
On average, Democratic senators voted against their party’s line 1.1% of the time and the average House Democrat voted against their party’s majority 1.6% of the time.
Buck missed more than 50 floor votes over the past two years, ranking 26th for absences among House members. About one-third of Buck’s missed votes occurred last month.
Bennet missed 19 floor votes in the Senate, almost all of them during the first week of May this year, accounting for 2% of total floor votes. He ranked 54th of 100 for absenteeism in the Senate.
Boebert missed 2.4% of House floor votes, or 24, while Lamborn missed 2%, or 20.
Neguse missed only a single floor vote over the past two years, while Hickenlooper missed only two.
Senators and representatives may list why they missed votes and even declare how they would have voted. Buck, Lamborn, Hickenlooper, Crow, Neguse and Perlmutter didn’t list any reasons or intended votes during their absences.
Bennet offered his intended votes, but only once explained his absence, saying it was travel-related.
Boebert listed her intended votes and reasons for absence – mostly travel-related – five times.
Perlmutter is the only member of Colorado’s congressional delegation who won’t return to Washington, D.C., in January when a new session of Congress, the 118th, begins. Lakewood Democrat Brittany Pettersen is taking over for Pettersen after winning in the Nov. 8 election.
Thornton Democrat Yadira Caraveo will represent Colorado’s new 8th District.
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