As we’re closing in on Election Day, I thought it would be a good time to reevaluate the voting records of South Florida’s congressional representatives. Control of Congress will clearly be critical to the agenda of whomever the next President of the United States happens to be. This is an exercise I do from time to time to gauge actions rather than words. In recent years it’s been especially telling. When discussing the most liberal members of Congress in the country, you don’t often hear South Florida’s Democrats being mentioned, however, voting records have told a different story. One way, in my opinion, the best way, of measuring voting records is by comparing actual votes in Congress to President Trump’s agenda.
Senators are not up for election this year, so this story will focus on just South Florida’s congressional representatives in the House. And for a fair comparison, only votes conducted during the current Congress, the 116th, will be used. These are the representatives based on the percentage of the time they’ve voted with President Trump:
- Brian Mast – 88.3%
- Mario Diaz Balart – 87.8%
- Lois Frankel – 5.2%
- Alcee Hastings – 5.1%
- Ted Deutch – 4.8%
- Debbie Mucarsel-Powell – 4.8%
- Donna Shalala – 4.8%
- Debbie Wasserman Schultz – 4.8%
- Frederica Wilson – 4%
Not surprisingly South Florida’s two Republicans are at the top of the list with Representative Mast being the most likely to vote with President Trump, followed closely by Mario Diaz Balart. Also, not surprisingly, South Florida’s Democrats are significantly less likely to vote with the President. But what’s also clear in this exercise is just how much division there is between the two parties. It’s remarkable that there’s an 82% difference of opinion/voting records between the most moderate Republican and Democrat. It also illustrates another important point. While Lois Frankel’s voting record is technically the most bipartisan among Democrats and Frederica Wilson’s is the least. We’re only talking about 1%. There’s very little difference between the most and least progressive Democrats in South Florida. Also, both Republicans are far more likely to vote across the aisle than any of South Florida’s Democrats. They’re all hard-left based on their voting records and among the most liberal nationally. Notably, for context, all are further to the left than Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who votes with President Trump 8.8% of the time, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who votes with President Trump 14.3% of the time. It speaks volumes when AOC is literally three times more conservative than your congressional representative. These voting records tell a specific story that isn’t conveyed during campaign platitudes.
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