Today’s entry: Brian, would you ask Marco Rubio if it is true about him not showing up for work like (his opponent) is saying? I'm a Republican and will vote for him but I think it's a good question to ask him to put him on the spot. Or perhaps improve his attendance if he’s guilty.
Bottom Line: It’s interesting, I’ve consistently fielded the most questions about Rubio of any candidate in Florida this cycle and I’ve twice addressed questions in Q&A’s prior to today’s. That included addressing his voting record in May and his overall effectiveness in June. Of course, those were prior to Florida’s primary elections and prior to challenger Val Demmings hammering away at Rubio’s attendance record on the trail and in campaign ads. I received today’s question during my recent interview with Senator Rubio and didn’t have the opportunity to address it with him at the time, but can address the actual record now.
In the Demmings ad which targets Rubio’s attendance she states: For 27 years, I showed up every day to put dangerous criminals away, never knowing I’d come home to my family, and when I was chief, we reduced violent crime by 40%. But Marco, you’ve got one of the worst attendance records in the Senate. When Florida needs you, you just don’t show up.
Now, Demmings’ claim that Rubio hasn’t shown up to do his job in the Senate would certainly contrast with his claim that he’s been the 2nd most effective Senator – which is what I addressed in June. Here’s a quick refresh...
Rubio’s claim of being the 2nd most effective senator is based on analysis provided by the nonpartisan Congressional watchdog GovTrack. As GovTrack explains regarding their rankings, what’s measured is how effective a senator is in gaining support in the Senate for the legislation they propose. Since 2019, Senator Rubio has been the 2nd most effective in leading his proposals through the Senate. And he’s only become more effective as time has gone along. He was the fifth most effective in 2017 and fourth in 2018 – leading up to his current distinction as the 2nd most effective. So, Rubio has long been one of the most effective Senators in either party in shepherding his legislation through Congress. Most recently only Democrat Senator Bob Menendez has been more effective.
So, is this a case where Rubio’s been oddly effective while largely absent? Not exactly. This is a case where it’s a bit more nuanced. Once again using GovTrack data, we’re able to see Rubio has missed 9.2% of all rollcall votes since becoming a Senator in 2011. If that sounds high – it is. The average is 2.3% among all senators. There are only two senators with worse attendance records. Ted Cruz who's missed 9.4% of votes and Bernie Sanders, far and away the most frequently absent, with 14% of votes missed. But their attendance records are also in part as low as they are for reasons similar to Rubio. Running for president. All Senators which have run for president have high relative absences when compared to other senators. To that end, the Senator with the worst attendance record on record is none other than Barack Obama who missed 24% of all votes during his time in Senate. So back to Rubio.
Since becoming a Senator in 2011, he’s missed a total of 346 votes – 129 of those, or just over 37% occurred during his 2016 presidential run. If you exclude that window his attendance record on votes is 94.1%, which is still about twice the average, but where he has lots of company. Most recently, in the current congress, Rubio’s attendance record ranks 73rd out of the 100 senators – though as Politifact cites, none of the missed votes were regarding legislation which impacted Florida.
As always there are two sides to stories and one side to facts. The facts reveal that Rubio is right about being the most effective Republican in the senate and second most effective senator overall, while it also shows that Demmings attacks on his attendance are generally accurate – though heavily skewed by his run for president. And that’s one of the big takeaways from this research. Current office holders who run for president are often absent from the job they’re elected to do while running. That’s food for thought heading into the 2024 cycle.
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