Who is N.J.’s most bipartisan member of Congress, really? - New Jersey Globe (original) (raw)

Is Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) a Biden stooge who has aligned with the president on 100% of major votes this session? Or, wait, is he a moderate stalwart who ranks as the 2nd most bipartisan House member? Sorry, wrong again – is he Pelosi’s doormat, falling in line with the Speaker on every vote?

Depending on how you analyze a member of Congress’ voting record, you can draw all sorts of conclusions. You could look at how often they aligned themselves with the president; you could see how bipartisan their bills are; you could hone in on a specific issue; and on and on.

As November’s general election approaches, every score that exists is sure to be weaponized as a campaign talking point.

Gottheimer really did vote with Joe Biden on 100% of major bills according to one analysis, and he really is the House’s 2nd-most bipartisan member according to another. It will be up to New Jersey’s voters to decide which of the many scores and grades are important and which are campaign season nonsense.

The FiveThirtyEight score

The nonpartisan political website FiveThirtyEight has a running database detailing how often every member of Congress has voted with President Joe Biden on major votes, ranking members from 0% to 100%. Unsurprisingly, all Democrats have extremely high scores – the lowest Democrat is Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) at 84% – while most Republicans are below 50%.

Only two New Jersey Democrats, in fact, are listed as voting with Biden less than 100% of the time: Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) and Senator Cory Booker.

Both voted against a waiver allowing Secretary of Defense nominee Lloyd Austin to bypass the seven-year waiting period normally required for active-duty military personnel; the vote on the waiver, which Biden supported, did not fall along particularly partisan lines. Booker also voted for a Biden-opposed bill disapproving of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia that the House did not vote on.

Save for Booker and Malinowski, every other Democrat in the New Jersey delegation was completely aligned with Biden on the 52 Senate votes and 73 House votes tracked by FiveThirtyEight. That includes Gottheimer, who has at times explicitly positioned himself against the president and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), who has similarly cast herself as a moderate.

Naturally, those 100% scores have turned into fodder for Republicans seeking to take down swing-district Democrats.

“No greater cheerleader than Andy Kim exists for Joe Biden’s agenda, and that’s Reason #1 voters should fire him this November,” 3rd district Republican nominee Bob Healey said today of Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown)’s 100% score. “Andy’s own votes make it clear: Congressman Kim is Biden’s #1 accomplice in giving America this disastrous economy of the last 18 months.”

As for Republicans, Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) voted with Biden 37% of the time, while Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) voted with him 29% of the time, both well above average for House Republicans. (The score does not include several recent votes, including one on gay marriage on which Van Drew aligned with House Democrats.)

The Lugar score

FiveThirtyEight’s methodology isn’t the only way to track the ideology of members of Congress, however. The Lugar Center, a public policy group that promotes bipartisanship in government, releases its own ranking of senators and representatives every year, from most to least bipartisan.

Rather than focusing on major votes, the Center looks at bill sponsorships and co-sponsorships, tracking both how many bipartisan bills a member sponsors and how often they co-sponsor legislation led by a member of the opposite party.

Under these metrics, Gottheimer shoots to the top as the 2nd-most bipartisan member of the House in 2021, behind only Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). Smith (30th), Sherrill (40th), Kim (46th), and Van Drew (54th) also notch high spots on the list.

No New Jersey House representative is in the bottom 100 on the Lugar list; the lowest is Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) in 307th. Malinowski is 149th, an unremarkable score except for the fact that it ranks significantly lower than that of New Jersey’s other vulnerable Democrats.

In the Senate, Senator Bob Menendez is listed as the 31st most bipartisan senator, while Booker is in 70th place.

Unlike FiveThirtyEight’s metrics, the Lugar Center list is primed for members to promote their bipartisanship and advertise their high spots on the list.

“I’m incredibly proud to be named the most bipartisan House Democrat,” Gottheimer said in a statement after this year’s Lugar rankings were released. “Now, more than ever, we see the importance of putting country and governing over partisan politics and gridlock.”

The NRCC ‘score’

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the Republican House campaign arm, doesn’t need a database like FiveThirtyEight’s or the Lugar Center’s. Instead, they can use a tried-and-true phrase that both parties have utilized for years: that their opponent votes with their party leaders “99% of the time.”

11th district Republican nominee Paul DeGroot has repeatedly hit Sherrill this year for voting with Biden and Pelosi “99% of the time.” In early 2021, the NRCC said that Kim had voted for Pelosi’s “socialist” agenda “98% of the time.” And back in 2018, Tom Malinowski’s communications director hit Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) for voting with Republicans “90% of the time,” echoing widespread Democratic attacks about then-House Speaker Paul Ryan and then-President Donald Trump.

“Mikie isn’t just some fun-loving liberal with a big heart who is generous with other people’s money; she is the Biden/Pelosi ever-faithful vote in Congress,” DeGroot charged last month.

While the attacks are repetitive and predictable, they’re also true, since members of Congress do typically vote with their party’s leadership, especially during periods when their party is in power. But from an objective perspective, the “99% of the time” attack line is misleading.

Congress pushes through a lot of bills every year that are approved by huge bipartisan margins, and don’t make the news because they weren’t particularly controversial or significant. That means any two members of Congress likely align on many votes, regardless of their ideology.

Earlier this month, both Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), arguably New Jersey’s most liberal member of Congress, and notorious Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) voted yes on a bill reauthorizing funding for the National Park Foundation. Does that shared vote signify anything about either representative? Not really.

No methodology, be it FiveThirtyEight’s, the Lugar Center’s, or the NRCC’s, can fully capture the nuances of any member’s ideology. Straightforward scores obscure important differences between representatives: the severity of their rhetoric, for example, or their willingness to withhold their vote as a bargaining chip (even if they do end up voting for the bill in question).

New Jersey’s airwaves will undoubtedly be filled this fall with charges that your congressmember – yes, the one you thought was so smart and independent-minded – is in fact a charlatan who votes with party leadership 99% of the time. As with any political attack, that’s a claim that’s worth checking out.