Rating Group: Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law

2009 Positions

Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income
How to Interpret these Evaluations
State Office Name Party Rating
AK U.S. Senate-Sr Lisa Murkowski R 50
AK U.S. Senate-Jr Mark Begich D 93
AK U.S. House-At-Large Don Young R 41
AL U.S. Senate-Sr Richard Shelby R 21
AL U.S. Senate-Jr Jeff Sessions III R 31
AL U.S. House-1 Jo Bonner, Jr. R 17
AL U.S. House-3 Mike Rogers R 44
AL U.S. House-4 Robert Aderholt R 22
AL U.S. House-6 Spencer Bachus R 22
AR U.S. Senate-Sr Mark Pryor D 86
AR U.S. Senate-Jr John Boozman R 22
AZ U.S. Senate-Sr John McCain III R 29
AZ U.S. Senate-Jr Jeff Flake R 0
AZ U.S. House-1 Ann Kirkpatrick D 78
AZ U.S. House-3 Raúl Grijalva D 100
AZ U.S. House-7 Ed Pastor D 100
AZ U.S. House-8 Trent Franks R 6
CA U.S. Senate-Sr Dianne Feinstein D 93
CA U.S. Senate-Jr Barbara Boxer D 93
CA U.S. House-4 Tom McClintock R 0
CA U.S. House-5 Mike Thompson D 100
CA U.S. House-6 Doris Matsui D 100
CA U.S. House-9 Jerry McNerney D 100
CA U.S. House-11 George Miller D 100
CA U.S. House-13 Barbara Lee D 100
CA U.S. House-14 Jackie Speier D 100
CA U.S. House-16 Jim Costa D 94
CA U.S. House-17 Mike Honda D 100
CA U.S. House-18 Anna Eshoo D 100
CA U.S. House-19 Zoe Lofgren D 94
CA U.S. House-20 Sam Farr D 100
CA U.S. House-22 Devin Nunes R 18
CA U.S. House-23 Kevin McCarthy R 17
CA U.S. House-24 Lois Capps D 100
CA U.S. House-25 Buck McKeon R 28
CA U.S. House-28 Adam Schiff D 100
CA U.S. House-30 Brad Sherman D 100
CA U.S. House-31 Gary Miller R 20
CA U.S. House-32 Grace Napolitano D 100
CA U.S. House-33 Henry Waxman D 100
CA U.S. House-34 Xavier Becerra D 100
CA U.S. House-38 Linda Sánchez D 100
CA U.S. House-39 Ed Royce R 0
CA U.S. House-40 Lucille Roybal-Allard D 100
CA U.S. House-42 Ken Calvert R 33
CA U.S. House-43 Maxine Waters D 100
CA U.S. House-45 John Campbell III R 6
CA U.S. House-46 Loretta Sanchez D 100
CA U.S. House-48 Dana Rohrabacher R 17
CA U.S. House-49 Darrell Issa R 11
CA U.S. House-53 Susan Davis D 100
CA Mayor-At-Large Bob Filner D 100
CO U.S. Senate-Sr Mark Udall D 93
CO U.S. Senate-Jr Michael Bennet D 86
CO U.S. House-1 Diana DeGette D 100
CO U.S. House-2 Jared Polis D 100
CO U.S. House-5 Doug Lamborn R 6
CO U.S. House-6 Michael Coffman R 17
CO U.S. House-7 Ed Perlmutter D 100
CO Commissioner of Agriculture John Salazar N/A 94
CT U.S. Senate-Jr Chris Murphy D 100
CT U.S. House-1 John Larson D 100
CT U.S. House-2 Joe Courtney D 100
CT U.S. House-3 Rosa DeLauro D 100
CT U.S. House-4 Jim Himes D 94
DE U.S. Senate-Sr Tom Carper D 93
FL U.S. Senate-Sr William Nelson, Sr. D 93
FL U.S. House-1 Jefferson Miller R 11
FL U.S. House-4 Ander Crenshaw R 28
FL U.S. House-5 Corrine Brown D 100
FL U.S. House-7 John Mica R 18
FL U.S. House-8 Bill Posey R 28
FL U.S. House-9 Alan Grayson D 100
FL U.S. House-12 Gus Bilirakis R 33
FL U.S. House-13 Bill Young R 41
FL U.S. House-14 Kathy Castor D 100
FL U.S. House-16 Vern Buchanan R 44
FL U.S. House-17 Thomas Rooney R 33
FL U.S. House-20 Alcee Hastings, Sr. D 100
FL U.S. House-23 Debbie Wasserman Schultz D 100
FL U.S. House-25 Mario Diaz-Balart R 53
FL U.S. House-27 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen R 61
FL Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Adam Putnam R 28
GA U.S. Senate-Sr Saxby Chambliss R 21
GA U.S. Senate-Jr Johnny Isakson R 21
GA U.S. House-1 Jack Kingston R 6
GA U.S. House-2 Sanford Bishop, Jr. D 100
GA U.S. House-3 Lynn Westmoreland R 0
GA U.S. House-4 Hank Johnson, Jr. D 100
GA U.S. House-5 John Lewis D 100
GA U.S. House-6 Tom Price R 6
GA U.S. House-10 Paul Broun R 0
GA U.S. House-11 Phil Gingrey R 11
GA U.S. House-12 John Barrow D 89
GA U.S. House-13 David Scott D 100
GA Governor Nathan Deal R 6
HI U.S. Senate-Jr Mazie Hirono D 100
HI Governor Neil Abercrombie D 100
IA U.S. Senate-Sr Chuck Grassley R 21
IA U.S. Senate-Jr Tom Harkin D 100
IA U.S. House-1 Bruce Braley D 100
IA U.S. House-2 Dave Loebsack D 100
IA U.S. House-3 Tom Latham R 33
IA U.S. House-4 Steve King R 0
ID U.S. Senate-Sr Mike Crapo R 14
ID U.S. Senate-Jr James Risch R 14
ID U.S. House-2 Mike Simpson R 39
IL U.S. Senate-Sr Dick Durbin D 93
IL U.S. Senate-Jr Mark Kirk R 56
IL U.S. House-1 Bobby Rush D 100
IL U.S. House-3 Daniel Lipinski D 94
IL U.S. House-4 Luis Gutierrez D 100
IL U.S. House-5 Mike Quigley D 100
IL U.S. House-6 Peter Roskam R 17
IL U.S. House-7 Danny Davis D 100
IL U.S. House-9 Jan Schakowsky D 100
IL U.S. House-11 Bill Foster D 94
IL U.S. House-15 John Shimkus R 33
IL U.S. House-18 Aaron Schock R 33
IN U.S. Senate-Jr Joe Donnelly, Sr. D 83
IN U.S. House-1 Pete Visclosky D 94
IN U.S. House-7 André Carson D 100
IN Governor Mike Pence R 6
KS U.S. Senate-Sr Pat Roberts R 21
KS U.S. Senate-Jr Jerry Moran R 28
KS U.S. House-2 Lynn Jenkins R 17
KS Governor Sam Brownback R 14
KY U.S. Senate-Sr Mitch McConnell R 14
KY U.S. House-1 Ed Whitfield R 22
KY U.S. House-2 Brett Guthrie R 28
KY U.S. House-3 John Yarmuth D 100
KY U.S. House-5 Hal Rogers R 28
LA U.S. Senate-Sr Mary Landrieu D 86
LA U.S. Senate-Jr David Vitter R 14
LA U.S. House-1 Steve Scalise R 13
LA U.S. House-3 Charles Boustany, Jr. R 24
LA U.S. House-4 John Fleming, Jr. R 22
LA U.S. House-5 Rodney Alexander R 22
LA U.S. House-6 Bill Cassidy R 28
MA U.S. House-1 Richard Neal D 100
MA U.S. House-2 Jim McGovern D 100
MA U.S. House-3 Niki Tsongas D 100
MA U.S. House-5 Ed Markey D 100
MA U.S. House-6 John Tierney D 100
MA U.S. House-7 Mike Capuano D 100
MA U.S. House-8 Stephen Lynch D 100
MD U.S. Senate-Sr Barbara Mikulski D 100
MD U.S. Senate-Jr Ben Cardin D 100
MD U.S. House-2 Dutch Ruppersberger D 100
MD U.S. House-3 John Sarbanes D 100
MD U.S. House-4 Donna Edwards D 100
MD U.S. House-5 Steny Hoyer D 100
MD U.S. House-7 Elijah Cummings D 100
MD U.S. House-8 Chris Van Hollen, Jr. D 100
ME U.S. Senate-Sr Susan Collins R 64
ME U.S. House-1 Chellie Pingree D 100
ME U.S. House-2 Mike Michaud D 100
MI U.S. Senate-Sr Carl Levin D 100
MI U.S. Senate-Jr Debbie Stabenow D 100
MI U.S. House-4 Dave Camp R 29
MI U.S. House-6 Fred Upton R 44
MI U.S. House-8 Mike Rogers R 35
MI U.S. House-9 Sandy Levin D 100
MI U.S. House-10 Candice Miller R 44
MI U.S. House-12 John Dingell D 100
MI U.S. House-13 John Conyers, Jr. D 100
MI U.S. House-14 Gary Peters D 94
MN U.S. Senate-Sr Amy Klobuchar DFL 86
MN U.S. House-1 Tim Walz DFL 100
MN U.S. House-2 John Kline R 17
MN U.S. House-3 Erik Paulsen R 33
MN U.S. House-4 Betty McCollum DFL 100
MN U.S. House-5 Keith Ellison DFL 100
MN U.S. House-6 Michele Bachmann R 12
MN U.S. House-7 Collin Peterson DFL 83
MO U.S. Senate-Sr Claire McCaskill D 79
MO U.S. Senate-Jr Roy Blunt R 19
MO U.S. House-1 Lacy Clay, Jr. D 100
MO U.S. House-3 Blaine Luetkemeyer R 22
MO U.S. House-5 Emanuel Cleaver II D 100
MO U.S. House-6 Sam Graves R 24
MS U.S. Senate-Sr Thad Cochran R 43
MS U.S. Senate-Jr Roger Wicker R 29
MS U.S. House-2 Bennie Thompson D 100
MS U.S. House-3 Gregg Harper R 17
MT U.S. Senate-Sr Max Baucus D 71
MT U.S. Senate-Jr Jon Tester D 79
NA U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry D 100
NC U.S. Senate-Sr Richard Burr R 21
NC U.S. Senate-Jr Kay Hagan D 86
NC U.S. House-1 G.K. Butterfield, Jr. D 100
NC U.S. House-3 Walter Jones, Jr. R 35
NC U.S. House-4 David Price D 100
NC U.S. House-5 Virginia Foxx R 0
NC U.S. House-6 Howard Coble R 17
NC U.S. House-7 Mike McIntyre D 89
NC U.S. House-10 Patrick McHenry R 11
NC U.S. House-12 Mel Watt D 100
NE U.S. Senate-Sr Mike Johanns R 29
NE U.S. House-1 Jeff Fortenberry R 44
NE U.S. House-2 Lee Terry R 33
NE U.S. House-3 Adrian Smith R 17
NH U.S. Senate-Sr Jeanne Shaheen D 100
NH U.S. House-1 Carol Shea-Porter D 100
NJ U.S. Senate-Sr Frank Lautenberg D 100
NJ U.S. Senate-Jr Bob Menendez D 100
NJ U.S. House-1 Rob Andrews D 100
NJ U.S. House-2 Frank LoBiondo R 61
NJ U.S. House-4 Chris Smith R 72
NJ U.S. House-5 Scott Garrett R 6
NJ U.S. House-6 Frank Pallone, Jr. D 100
NJ U.S. House-7 Leonard Lance R 61
NJ U.S. House-8 Albio Sires D 100
NJ U.S. House-9 Bill Pascrell, Jr. D 100
NJ U.S. House-11 Rodney Frelinghuysen R 33
NJ U.S. House-12 Rush Holt, Jr. D 100
NM U.S. Senate-Sr Thomas Udall D 93
NM U.S. Senate-Jr Martin Heinrich D 94
NM U.S. House-3 Ben Lujan, Jr. D 100
NV U.S. Senate-Sr Harry Reid D 100
NV U.S. Senate-Jr Dean Heller R 25
NV U.S. House-1 Dina Titus D 100
NY U.S. Senate-Sr Chuck Schumer D 93
NY U.S. Senate-Jr Kirsten Gillibrand D 92
NY U.S. House-1 Tim Bishop D 100
NY U.S. House-2 Pete King R 50
NY U.S. House-3 Steve Israel D 100
NY U.S. House-4 Carolyn McCarthy D 100
NY U.S. House-5 Gregory Meeks D 100
NY U.S. House-7 Nydia Velázquez D 100
NY U.S. House-9 Yvette Clarke D 100
NY U.S. House-10 Jerry Nadler D 100
NY U.S. House-12 Carolyn Maloney D 100
NY U.S. House-13 Charlie Rangel D 100
NY U.S. House-14 Joe Crowley D 100
NY U.S. House-15 José Serrano D 100
NY U.S. House-16 Eliot Engel D 100
NY U.S. House-17 Nita Lowey D 100
NY U.S. House-20 Paul Tonko D 100
NY U.S. House-24 Dan Maffei Other 100
NY U.S. House-25 Louise Slaughter D 100
NY U.S. House-26 Brian Higgins D 100
OH U.S. Senate-Sr Sherrod Brown D 100
OH U.S. House-4 Jim Jordan R 6
OH U.S. House-5 Bob Latta R 11
OH U.S. House-8 John Boehner R 11
OH U.S. House-9 Marcy Kaptur D 100
OH U.S. House-10 Mike Turner R 56
OH U.S. House-11 Marcia Fudge D 100
OH U.S. House-12 Pat Tiberi R 47
OH U.S. House-13 Tim Ryan D 100
OK U.S. Senate-Sr Jim Inhofe R 8
OK U.S. Senate-Jr Thomas Coburn R 8
OK U.S. House-3 Frank Lucas R 22
OK U.S. House-4 Tom Cole R 28
OK Governor Mary Fallin R 22
OR U.S. Senate-Sr Ron Wyden D 93
OR U.S. Senate-Jr Jeff Merkley D 92
OR U.S. House-2 Greg Walden R 33
OR U.S. House-3 Earl Blumenauer D 100
OR U.S. House-4 Peter DeFazio D 89
OR U.S. House-5 Kurt Schrader D 89
PA U.S. Senate-Sr Bob Casey, Jr. D 100
PA U.S. House-1 Bob Brady D 100
PA U.S. House-2 Chaka Fattah, Sr. D 100
PA U.S. House-5 G.T. Thompson, Jr. R 28
PA U.S. House-6 Jim Gerlach R 50
PA U.S. House-9 Bill Shuster R 22
PA U.S. House-13 Allyson Schwartz D 100
PA U.S. House-14 Mike Doyle, Jr. D 100
PA U.S. House-15 Charlie Dent R 50
PA U.S. House-16 Joe Pitts R 18
PA U.S. House-18 Tim Murphy R 61
RI U.S. Senate-Sr Jack Reed D 100
RI U.S. Senate-Jr Sheldon Whitehouse D 100
RI U.S. House-2 Jim Langevin D 100
SC U.S. Senate-Sr Lindsey Graham R 21
SC U.S. House-2 Joe Wilson, Sr. R 17
SC U.S. House-6 Jim Clyburn D 100
SD U.S. Senate-Sr Timothy Johnson D 83
SD U.S. Senate-Jr John Thune R 14
TN U.S. Senate-Sr Lamar Alexander R 29
TN U.S. Senate-Jr Robert Corker R 29
TN U.S. House-1 Phil Roe R 28
TN U.S. House-2 John Duncan, Jr. R 11
TN U.S. House-5 Jim Cooper D 94
TN U.S. House-7 Marsha Blackburn R 6
TN U.S. House-9 Steve Cohen D 100
TX U.S. Senate-Sr John Cornyn R 14
TX U.S. House-1 Louie Gohmert R 12
TX U.S. House-2 Ted Poe R 0
TX U.S. House-3 Sam Johnson R 6
TX U.S. House-4 Ralph Hall R 17
TX U.S. House-5 Jeb Hensarling R 0
TX U.S. House-6 Joe Barton R 11
TX U.S. House-7 John Culberson R 22
TX U.S. House-8 Kevin Brady R 6
TX U.S. House-9 Al Green D 100
TX U.S. House-10 Michael McCaul R 28
TX U.S. House-11 Mike Conaway R 6
TX U.S. House-12 Kay Granger R 25
TX U.S. House-13 Mac Thornberry R 6
TX U.S. House-15 Rubén Hinojosa, Sr. D 100
TX U.S. House-18 Sheila Jackson Lee D 100
TX U.S. House-19 Randy Neugebauer R 6
TX U.S. House-21 Lamar Smith R 28
TX U.S. House-22 Pete Olson R 6
TX U.S. House-24 Kenny Marchant R 6
TX U.S. House-26 Michael Burgess R 17
TX U.S. House-28 Henry Cuellar D 100
TX U.S. House-29 Gene Green D 100
TX U.S. House-30 Eddie Johnson D 100
TX U.S. House-31 John Carter R 12
TX U.S. House-32 Pete Sessions R 11
TX U.S. House-35 Lloyd Doggett D 100
UT U.S. Senate-Sr Orrin Hatch R 36
UT U.S. House-1 Rob Bishop R 18
UT U.S. House-3 Jason Chaffetz R 6
UT U.S. House-4 Jim Matheson D 83
VA U.S. Senate-Sr Mark Warner D 93
VA U.S. House-1 Rob Wittman R 39
VA U.S. House-3 Bobby Scott D 100
VA U.S. House-4 Randy Forbes R 28
VA U.S. House-6 Bob Goodlatte R 22
VA U.S. House-7 Eric Cantor R 17
VA U.S. House-8 Jim Moran, Jr. D 100
VA U.S. House-10 Frank Wolf R 44
VA U.S. House-11 Gerry Connolly D 100
VT U.S. Senate-Sr Patrick Leahy D 93
VT U.S. Senate-Jr Bernie Sanders I 100
VT U.S. House-At-Large Peter Welch D 100
WA U.S. Senate-Sr Patty Murray D 100
WA U.S. Senate-Jr Maria Cantwell D 100
WA U.S. House-2 Rick Larsen D 100
WA U.S. House-4 Doc Hastings R 11
WA U.S. House-5 Cathy McMorris Rodgers R 22
WA U.S. House-7 Jim McDermott D 100
WA U.S. House-8 Dave Reichert R 67
WA U.S. House-9 Adam Smith D 100
WA Governor Jay Inslee D 100
WI U.S. Senate-Jr Tammy Baldwin D 100
WI U.S. House-1 Paul Ryan R 12
WI U.S. House-3 Ron Kind D 94
WI U.S. House-4 Gwen Moore D 100
WI U.S. House-5 Jim Sensenbrenner, Jr. R 11
WI U.S. House-6 Tom Petri R 44
WV U.S. Senate-Sr Jay Rockefeller IV D 80
WV U.S. House-2 Shelley Moore Capito R 44
WV U.S. House-3 Nick Rahall II D 94
WY U.S. Senate-Sr Mike Enzi R 21
WY U.S. Senate-Jr John Barrasso R 14
WY U.S. House-At-Large Cynthia Lummis R 11
Gary Ackerman Other 100
John Adler Other 83
Daniel Akaka, Sr. Other 100
Todd Akin Other 6
Jason Altmire Other 83
Michael Arcuri Other 89
Steve Austria Other 39
Joe Baca, Sr. Other 100
Brian Baird Other 88
J. Gresham Barrett Other 7
Roscoe Bartlett Other 17
Evan Bayh Other 86
Melissa Bean Other 94
Bob Bennett Other 21
Shelley Berkley Other 100
Howard Berman Other 100
Marion Berry Other 87
Judy Biggert Other 33
Brian Bilbray Other 33
Jeff Bingaman Other 93
John Boccieri Other 94
Kit Bond Other 31
Mary Bono Mack Other 44
Dan Boren Other 72
Leonard Boswell Other 100
Rick Boucher Other 94
Allen Boyd, Jr. Other 81
Bobby Bright Other 44
Henry Brown, Jr. Other 24
Ginny Brown-Waite Other 41
Jim Bunning Other 8
Roland Burris Other 100
Dan Burton Other 17
Steve Buyer Other 38
Robert Byrd Other 80
Joseph Cao Other 67
Dennis Cardoza Other 100
Russ Carnahan Other 100
Christopher Carney Other 89
Mike Castle Other 56
Ben Chandler III Other 94
Travis Childers Other 72
Kent Conrad Other 86
Jerry Costello Other 89
Kathy Dahlkemper Other 89
Artur Davis Other 89
Geoff Davis Other 17
Lincoln Davis Other 89
Bill Delahunt Other 100
James DeMint Other 8
Lincoln Diaz-Balart Other 56
Norm Dicks Other 100
Chris Dodd Other 93
Byron Dorgan Other 75
David Dreier Other 28
Steve Driehaus Other 89
Chet Edwards Other 89
Vern Ehlers Other 44
Brad Ellsworth Other 89
Jo Ann Emerson Other 39
John Ensign Other 8
Bob Etheridge Other 100
Russ Feingold Other 86
Barney Frank Other 100
Elton Gallegly Other 29
Gabrielle Giffords Other 100
Charlie Gonzalez Other 100
Bart Gordon Other 89
Judd Gregg Other 21
Parker Griffith, Jr. Other 72
John Hall Other 100
Debbie Halvorson Other 100
Phil Hare Other 100
Jane Harman Other 100
Wally Herger, Jr. Other 17
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin Other 76
Baron Hill Other 100
Maurice Hinchey Other 100
Paul Hodes Other 100
Pete Hoekstra Other 22
Thomas Holden Other 89
Duncan Hunter Other 22
Kay Hutchison Other 43
Bob Inglis, Sr. Other 6
Daniel Inouye Other 100
Jesse Jackson, Jr. Other 100
Tim Johnson Other 56
Steve Kagen Other 100
Paul Kanjorski Other 89
Ted Kaufman Other 93
Patrick Kennedy Other 100
Dale Kildee Other 100
Carolyn Kilpatrick Other 100
Mary Jo Kilroy Other 100
Larry Kissell Other 89
Ron Klein Other 100
Herb Kohl Other 93
Suzanne Kosmas Other 83
Frank Kratovil, Jr. Other 83
Dennis Kucinich Other 83
Jon Kyl Other 7
Steve LaTourette Other 56
Chris Lee Other 35
Jerry Lewis Other 28
Joe Lieberman Other 86
Blanche Lincoln Other 79
John Linder Other 6
Dick Lugar Other 43
Dan Lungren Other 28
Connie Mack IV Other 11
Don Manzullo Other 22
Betsy Markey Other 94
Jim Marshall Other 78
Eric Massa Other 83
Thaddeus McCotter Other 44
Michael McMahon Other 89
Kendrick Meek, Sr. Other 100
Charlie Melancon, Sr. Other 83
Brad Miller Other 100
Walt Minnick Other 61
Harry Mitchell Other 83
Alan Mollohan Other 94
Dennis Moore Other 100
Patrick Murphy Other 94
Scott Murphy Other 91
Jack Murtha Other 100
Sue Myrick Other 11
Ben Nelson Other 79
Glenn Nye III Other 83
Jim Oberstar Other 100
Dave Obey Other 100
John Olver Other 100
Solomon Ortiz, Sr. Other 94
Ron Paul Other 0
Donald Payne Other 100
Tom Perriello Other 100
Todd Platts Other 56
Earl Pomeroy Other 94
George Radanovich Other 12
Denny Rehberg Other 33
Silvestre Reyes Other 100
Laura Richardson Other 100
Ciro Rodriguez Other 94
Mike Ross Other 88
Steve Rothman Other 100
Mark Schauer Other 100
Jean Schmidt Other 22
Joe Sestak, Jr. Other 100
John Shadegg Other 0
Heath Shuler Other 83
Ike Skelton Other 88
Olympia Snowe Other 64
Vic Snyder Other 100
Mark Souder Other 33
Zack Space Other 100
Arlen Specter Other 86
John Spratt, Jr. Other 100
Pete Stark Other 92
Cliff Stearns Other 22
Bart Stupak Other 83
John Sullivan Other 20
Betty Sutton Other 100
John Tanner Other 81
Gene Taylor Other 61
Harry Teague Other 94
Todd Tiahrt Other 13
Ed Towns Other 100
George Voinovich Other 38
Zach Wamp Other 25
Diane Watson Other 100
Jim Webb, Jr. Other 93
Anthony Weiner Other 100
Robert Wexler Other 100
Charlie Wilson, Jr. Other 94
Lynn Woolsey Other 100
David Wu Other 100

How to Interpret these Evaluations

Keep in mind that ratings done by special interest groups often do not represent a non-partisan stance. In addition, some groups select votes that tend to favor members of one political party over another, rather than choosing votes based solely on issues concerns. Nevertheless, they can be invaluable in showing where an incumbent has stood on a series of votes in the past one or two years, especially when ratings by groups on all sides of an issue are compared. Website links, if available, and descriptions of the organizations offering performance evaluations are accessible by clicking on the name of the group.

Most performance evaluations are displayed in a percentage format. However, some organizations present their ratings in the form of a letter grade or endorsement based on voting records, interviews, survey results and/or sources of campaign funding. For consistency and ease in understanding, Project Vote Smart converts all scores into a percentage when possible. Please visit the group's website or call 1-888-VOTESMART for more specific information.