Nevada Rep. Susie Lee and Sen. Jacky Rosen, both Democrats, are listed in the analysis from the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University which ranks members of Congress on bipartisanship. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — Two Nevadans, both Democrats, were among the most bipartisan members of Congress last year, according to a newly released analysis.
Jacky Rosen ranked as the 6th most bipartisan senator, and Susie Lee ranked as the 7th most bipartisan member of the House, according to rankings compiled by the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Both are are running for reelection in what are expected to be close races.
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick were the most bipartisan members of Congress last year.
“I’m proud to be recognized as one of the top 10 most bipartisan senators for the third year in a row for my work with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to help lower costs, support our state’s economy, and protect our national security,” said Rosen in a statement.
“I’ll always put our state first, above politics and party loyalty, to see that Nevadans get ahead,” added Rosen, who has run campaign ads this year touting her willingness to vote with Republicans.
“Hardworking families in southern Nevada care less about political parties and more about common sense solutions,” Lee said in a statement.“I’m proud to have been named Nevada’s most bipartisan Member of Congress and one of the top ten most bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives. I will continue working with my Republican colleagues to help Nevada’s families, small businesses, seniors, and veterans.”
Nevada’s other senator, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto was ranked the 34th most bipartisan of the 100 senators. Among the other three members of Nevada’s House delegation, Democrat Dina Titus ranked 94th, Republican Mark Amodei ranked 147th, and Democrat Steven Horsford ranked 368th.
The least bipartisan House lawmaker was Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, while Alabama’s Katie Britt, a Republican freshman, placed last among senators.
The latest ranking of the most bipartisan lawmakers comes amid one of the least productive Congresses in the nation’s history and just months before nearly all House lawmakers and about one-third of the Senate face voters at the polls in November.
Maria Cancian, dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy, wrote in a statement announcing the new rankings that “while there is much room for improvement, I am encouraged to see some progress on cross-party collaboration.”
“In these deeply divided times, and with an increasing amount of misleading information online, we need tools like the Bipartisan Index more than ever — an evidence-based and nonpartisan approach for measuring how well policymakers work across the aisle to get things done,” Cancian wrote.
Lugar Center Policy Director Dan Diller wrote that it was “especially disheartening that all eight new Senators who took office in January 2023 ranked in the bottom 30 percent of Senate scores.”
“Bipartisan cooperation on legislation in 2023 was deficient by historical standards, though there were some marginal improvements in scores from the previous Congress,” Diller wrote.
The website with the rankings states that the “Bipartisan Index is intended to fill a hole in the information available to the public about the performance of Members of Congress.”
The Lugar Center, founded by the late U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, “is a platform for informed debate and analysis of global issues, including nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, global food security, foreign assistance effectiveness and global development, energy security, and enhancing bipartisan governance,” according to its website.
The rankings take into consideration “the frequency with which a member of Congress sponsors bills that are co-sponsored by at least one member of the opposing party” and “the frequency with which a member co-sponsors bills introduced by members of the opposite Party.”
Hugh Jackson contributed to this report.
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