Senate Incumbent Rankings

I have compiled my "Newbius Rankings" of current Senate Incumbents, based upon my view of Liberty and Gun Rights issues. This table lists all current incumbents, their current Seniority, and my ratings based on recent votes and overall history regarding gun rights. The table rates as follows:

Composite Gun Rights grade (expressed as a number 4-0 A-F)
Health Care Vote (For=0, Against =1)
TARP Vote (For=0, Against=1)
Sotomayor Confirmation (For=0, Against=1)
Wall Street Bailout (For=0, Against=1)
National CCW Reciprocity (Against=0, For=1)
National Parks Carry (Against=0, For=1)

The maximum possible score is 10 and the scoring is biased towards Second Amendment freedom.

The data is sorted in order by Score, then by Seniority

SC SN Name GR HC TARP SOTO WS NCR NPC
10 4 Orrin Hatch (R-UT) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 6 Thad Cochran (R-MS) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 14 Mitch McConnell (R-KY) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 17 Richard Shelby (R-AL) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 31 Bob Bennett (R-UT) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 32 Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 33 Jim Inhofe (R-OK) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 35 Jon Kyl (R-AZ) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 37 Sam Brownback (R-KS) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 38 Pat Roberts (R-KS) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 43 Jeff Sessions (R-AL) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 45 Mike Enzi (R-WY) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 47 Jim Bunning (R-KY) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 48 Mike Crapo (R-ID) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 55 John Ensign (R-NV) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 58 Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 60 Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 63 John Cornyn (R-TX) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 65 Richard Burr (R-NC) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 66 Jim DeMint (R-SC) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 67 Tom Coburn (R-OK) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 68 John Thune (R-SD) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 69 Johnny Isakson (R-GA) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 70 David Vitter (R-LA) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 77 Bob Corker (R-TN) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 82 John Barrasso (R-WY) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 83 Roger Wicker (R-MS) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 86 Mike Johanns (R-NE) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 89 Jim Risch (R-ID) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
9 9 Chuck Grassley (R-IA) 4 1 1 1 0 1 1
9 20 Kit Bond (R-MO) 4 1 1 0 1 1 1
9 61 Lindsey Graham (R-SC) 4 1 1 0 1 1 1
9 98 George LeMieux (R-FL) 4 1 1 1 1 1 0
8 18 John McCain (R-AZ) 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
8 62 Lamar Alexander (R-TN) 4 1 1 0 1 1 0
7 28 Judd Gregg (R-NH) 2 1 1 0 1 1 1
6 5 Max Baucus (D-MT) 4 0 0 0 0 1 1
6 19 Harry Reid (D-NV) 4 0 0 0 0 1 1
6 57 Ben Nelson (D-NE) 4 0 0 0 0 1 1
6 92 Mark Begich (D-AK) 4 0 0 0 0 1 1
6 99 Scott Brown (R-MA) 4 0 1 1 0 0 0
5 3 Richard Lugar (R-IN) 1 1 1 0 1 0 1
5 10 Arlen Specter (D-PA) 4 0 0 0 0 0 1
5 34 Olympia Snowe (R-ME) 2 1 0 0 0 1 1
5 40 Tim Johnson (D-SD) 4 0 0 0 0 1 0
5 44 Susan Collins (R-ME) 2 1 0 0 0 1 1
5 50 George Voinovich (R-OH) 1 1 1 0 1 0 1
5 76 Jim Webb (D-VA) 3 0 0 0 0 1 1
5 81 Jon Tester (D-MT) 3 0 0 0 0 1 1
5 88 Mark Warner (D-VA) 3 0 0 0 0 1 1
5 95 Michael Bennet (D-CO) 3 0 0 0 0 1 1
4 29 Russ Feingold (D-WI) 1 0 0 0 1 1 1
4 42 Mary Landrieu (D-LA) 2 0 0 0 0 1 1
4 64 Mark Pryor (D-AR) 2 0 0 0 0 1 1
4 75 Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA) 2 0 0 0 0 1 1
4 84 Mark Udall (D-CO) 2 0 0 0 0 1 1
3 21 Kent Conrad (D-ND) 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
3 26 Byron Dorgan (D-ND) 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
3 49 Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
3 51 Evan Bayh (D-IN) 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
3 73 Bernie Sanders (I-VT) 2 0 0 0 0 0 1
3 79 Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) 2 0 0 0 0 0 1
3 85 Tom Udall (D-NM) 2 0 0 0 0 1 0
3 87 Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) 2 0 0 0 0 0 1
3 91 Jeff Merkley (D-OR) 2 0 0 0 0 0 1
2 2 Patrick Leahy (D-VT) 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
2 52 Bill Nelson (D-FL) 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 90 Kay Hagan (D-NC) 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
1 11 Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 13 Tom Harkin (D-IA) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
1 15 Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 22 Herb Kohl (D-WI) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1 36 Ron Wyden (D-OR) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1 56 Maria Cantwell (D-WA) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
1 74 Sherrod Brown (D-OH) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 97 Al Franken (D-MN) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 Daniel Inouye (D-HI) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 7 Carl Levin (D-MI) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 8 Christopher Dodd (D-CT) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 12 John Kerry (D-MA) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 16 Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 23 Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 24 Daniel Akaka (D-HI) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 25 Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 27 Barbara Boxer (D-CA) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 30 Patty Murray (D-WA) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 39 Richard Durbin (D-IL) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 41 Jack Reed (D-RI) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 46 Chuck Schumer (D-NY) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 53 Tom Carper (D-DE) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 54 Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 59 Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 71 Bob Menendez (D-NJ) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 72 Ben Cardin (D-MD) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 78 Claire McCaskill (D-MO) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 80 Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 93 Roland Burris (D-IL) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 94 Ted Kaufman (D-DE) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 96 Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sorry about the formatting, I haven't mastered tables in HTML yet and I wanted to get this out. For ease of reading, you might want to dump the table into a spreadsheet.

To decipher, using Orrin Hatch as an example:

10 4 Orrin Hatch (R-UT) 4 1 1 1 1 1 1

Total Score 10, Current Seniority 4, Name (Party Affiliation-ST), Gun Rights 4 (A), Health Care 1 (Against), Tarp 1 (Against), Sotomayor Confirmation 1 (Against), Wall Street Bailout 1 (Against), National Parks Carry 1 (For), National CCW Reciprocity 1 (For).

Using this rating system we see that, on issues important to me, he maxes the grade. His current Overall Seniority is #4 (Republican Seniority #2 behind lower-rated Dick Lugar), and if my decision was between this Senator and an unknown, I would likely vote for him.

I am not a single-issue voter. I view Liberty issues as being intertwined, with the most telling indicator of a politician's support for Liberty being their support for our Second Amendment rights.

Usually, but not always, a politician who supports our gun rights also supports civil liberties. A very telling example of this is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

6 19 Harry Reid (D-NV) 4 0 0 0 0 1 1

While his overall gun rights score is still a 4 (A), his actual votes on the other key issues were against Liberty. His support for Statist policies manifested in votes for expansion of government with regard to ObamaCare, TARP, Wall Street bailouts, and in his vote to confirm Sotomayor. While Harry Reid might be a friend of the NRA, Harry Reid is not a friend of Liberty.

Please do you own research on the people representing you in Congress. Before you vote, use resources like Open Secrets and Project Vote Smart to discover where a candidate stands and who is funding their campaign. Create tables of your own based upon issues important to you.

Most importantly, get involved.

Pax,

Newbius