Staff Reports
In a historically partisan Congress, Florida’s representatives are a pretty partisan bunch.
Congressional Quarterly’s review of voting patterns found that 20 of the Sunshine State’s 27 House members sided with most members of their own party against most members of the other party more than the average amount of time in 2015.
House Democrats as a whole voted in line with each other an average 92 percent of the time. Eight of Florida’s 10 Democrats exceeded that threshold. Only Gwen Graham (79 percent) and Patrick Murphy (89 percent) were less partisan.
The most partisan Democrats were Kathy Castor, Ted Deutch, Frederica Wilson, and Lois Frankel. All voted with their party 98 percent of the time.
House Republicans voted in line with each other an average 92 percent of the time. Twelve of Florida’s 17 Republicans were more partisan than the average.
Only Carlos Curbelo (80 percent), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (83 percent), Tom Jolly (86 percent), and Mario Díaz-Balart (89 percent) fell below the norm. Vern Buchanan came in at 92 percent, or right at the House average.
The most partisan Florida Republicans were Jeff Miller and Ron DeSantis, also at 98 percent.
Averages for both parties tied historic highs first reached within the past decade.
Jolly and Murphy are both running for their respective parties’ nominations in the race for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Marco Rubio, who is running for president.
Overall, a majority of Democrats confronted a majority of Republicans on slightly more than three of every four floor votes. That almost matched the top mark set in 2011, according to CQ Weekly.
“We are at a partisan ceiling. That puts a limit on possibilities,” Steve Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College in Minnesota, told the magazine. “Within that limit, leaders are figuring what they can do and what they can’t do.”
