There are a total of five Senators that are running for for the White House. While campaigning, many of them have missed a significant number of Senate votes. The one person that has missed the fewest senate votes is (R-KY) Senator Rand Paul.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was close behind Senator Paul, missing 4 percent of the votes while Paul only missed 3 percent. Paul and Sanders’ ability to balance their presidential campaigns, while still doing their job in Congress is unique in this race.
Since launching his campaign, Texas Senator Ted Cruz has missed 29 percent of senate votes. That’s quite a bit when compared to Sanders and Paul. But Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio both have far worse records.
The senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, has missed a whopping 42 percent of the votes. Lindsey Graham has the worst record of all senators currently running with 48 percent. While Graham’s missed vote percentage is higher than Rubio’s, he’s actually missed less votes than Senator Rubio has. Graham has been in the race for the White House for less time than Rubio has. Mr. Rubio entered the race on April 13, while Mr. Graham entered the race on June 1.
Some may find it ironic that Senator Graham has missed so many votes while running a doomed campaign. Graham is currently polling at around 0 percent depending on who you ask. He may be able to get up to .03 percent on a good day. But throughout his campaign, the South Carolina senator has managed to stay around that 1 percent or less tier of candidates.
In fairness, Marco Rubio is not seeking reelection in the Senate. That does lend him a little bit of slack in my eyes, at least. But I don’t think he should fully abandon his job as a senator until he’s finished his term through.
Cruz doesn’t have to worry about reelection until 2017. His absence from the hill is a little more upsetting than Rubio’s. These guys are getting paid to vote in Congress, when they don’t show up, that’s a problem. Just think what would happen if you missed 29, 42, or 48 percent of your work meetings.
Senator Paul may feel more inclined to show up to the votes since he’s seeking reelection. Mr. Paul will be running for president in 2016 while simultaneously running for reelection as a senator. Whether or not this has influenced his attendance, I can’t say. When he’s not campaigning, Paul has an excellent attendance record as well.
Missing senate votes while campaigning for president is nothing new. While running for president, then Senator Obama missed around 30 percent of the votes. John McCain somehow managed to miss 59 percent of the votes during that election cycle.
The more conservative candidates like Cruz and Rubio should feel some sense of duty to do their job. After all, their salaries are paid by the American taxpayers. So why should the taxpayers pay for their senators to run a presidential campaign?
Sources: Frank Thorp / NBC
[Photo by Gage Skidmore]