Lankford is the junior senator from Oklahoma and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 6, 2015. Lankford is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023 unless re-elected.
He was previously the representative for Oklahoma’s 5th congressional district as a Republican from 2011 to 2014.
![Photo of Sen. James Lankford [R-OK]](/static/legislator-photos/412464-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2019 Report Card for Lankford.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Lankford 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 Lankford has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Sep 22, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
James Lankford sits on the following committees:
- Senate Select Committee on Ethics Chair
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Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management subcommittee Chair
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations subcommittees - Senate Committee on Appropriations
- Senate Committee on Finance
- Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
Enacted Legislation
Lankford was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:
- S. 1430: Representative Payee Fraud Prevention Act of 2019
- S. 1829: GREAT Act
- S. 3675 (115th): A bill to amend the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016 to ensure that the Public Buildings Reform Board has adequate time to carry out ...
- S. 1887 (115th): Direct Hire of Students and Recent Graduates Act of 2017
- S. 1648 (115th): Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2018
- S. 2966 (114th): District of Columbia Judicial Financial Transparency Act
- S. 321 (114th): A bill to revoke the charter of incorporation of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma at the request of that tribe, and for other purposes.
Does 7 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
Lankford sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (45%) International Affairs (18%) Taxation (11%) Health (8%) Economics and Public Finance (8%)
Recent Bills
Some of Lankford’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 4658: A bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to allow ...
- S. 4678: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the ...
- S. 4461: Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2020
- S. 4245: Safeguarding Internet Freedom in Hong Kong Act of 2020
- S. 4138: Telework for U.S. Innovation Act
- S. 4032: Universal Giving Pandemic Response Act
- S.Res. 599: A resolution honoring the life and legacy of Judge Lee Roy West.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2015 to Sep 2020, Lankford missed 3 of 1,722 roll call votes, which is 0.2%. This is better than the median of 1.8% 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
