Coons is the junior senator from Delaware and is a Democrat. He has served since Nov 15, 2010. Coons is next up for reelection in 2026 and serves until Jan 3, 2027.
![Photo of Sen. Christopher Coons [D-DE]](/static/legislator-photos/412390-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Coons is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Coons has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 19, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Coons was the primary sponsor of 8 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 3519: A bill to authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to subsidize payments on loans guaranteed under the 7(a) and 504 loan programs or made using funds ...
- S. 2354: Expanding Findings for Federal Opioid Research and Treatment Act
- S. 1427: Global Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing Act of 2019
- S. 590: Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act
- S. 1107 (115th): Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017
- S. 1799 (113th): Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013
- S. 1821 (112th): Temporary Bankruptcy Judgeships Extension Act of 2011
Does 8 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Coons sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
International Affairs (23%) Commerce (21%) Science, Technology, Communications (12%) Labor and Employment (11%) Education (10%) Taxation (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%) Health (7%)
Recent Bills
Some of Coons’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 5052 (116th): Algorithmic Fairness Act of 2020
- S. 5030 (116th): UNITE for our Oceans Act of 2020
- S.Res. 802: A resolution commending the United States African Development Foundation on the occasion of ...
- S. 4964 (116th): Next Generation Entrepreneurship Corps Act
- S.Res. 791: A resolution designating November 2020 as “National College Application Month”.
- S. 4928 (116th): Educating for Democracy Act of 2020
- S. 4867 (116th): Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Nov 2010 to Jan 2021, Coons missed 81 of 3,017 roll call votes, which is 2.7%. This is worse than the median of 1.5% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
