Sanford Bishop Jr., Representative for Georgia's 2nd Congressional District

Bishop is the representative for Georgia’s 2^nd congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 5, 1993. Bishop is next up for reelection in 2020.

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2019 Report Card for Bishop.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Bishop is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Bishop has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Jan 21, 2020. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 96% NIAC Action: A Human Rights Campaign: 82% United States Chamber of Commerce: 82% American Civil Liberties Union: 77% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: B League of Conservation Voters: 63% Americans for Prosperity: 29% NumbersUSA: 20% The Club for Growth: 16% FreedomWorks: 15%

Committee Membership

Sanford Bishop Jr. sits on the following committees:

House Committee on Appropriations
- Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies subcommittee Chair
- Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies subcommittee Vice Chair
Financial Services and General Government subcommittees

Enacted Legislation

Bishop was the primary sponsor of 10 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

Does 10 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Bishop sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Armed Forces and National Security (54%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (31%) Agriculture and Food (15%)

Recent Bills

Some of Bishop’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Bishop voted Aye

H.R. 2596: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Passed 247/178 on Jun 16, 2015.

The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (IAA), H.R. 2596, was passed by the House on June 16. The IAA would authorize funding for ...

Bishop voted Yea

H.R. 2048: Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015

Passed 338/88 on May 13, 2015.

The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of ...

Bishop voted Aye

H.Res. 138: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1029) to amend the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act ...

Passed 236/180 on Mar 17, 2015.

Bishop voted Yea

H.R. 83 (113th): Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015

Passed 219/206 on Dec 11, 2014.

This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 [pdf], which was approved by the House on December ...

Bishop voted Aye

H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015

Passed 319/108 on Sep 17, 2014.

Bishop voted Aye

H.R. 2804 (113th): Achieving Less Excess in Regulation and Requiring Transparency Act of 2014

Passed 236/179 on Feb 27, 2014.

Bishop voted Aye

H.R. 6233 (112th): Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2012

Passed 223/197 on Aug 2, 2012.

Bishop voted Yea

H.Res. 363 (112th): Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2584) making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, ...

Passed 205/131 on Jul 25, 2011.

Bishop voted Aye

H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.

The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack ...

Bishop voted Aye

H.Res. 203 (112th): Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 910) to amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit the ...

Passed 250/172 on Apr 6, 2011.

Bishop voted Nay

H.Res. 317 (111th): Recognizing the region from Manhattan, Kansas, to Columbia, Missouri, as the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, and ...

Passed 312/108 on Sep 15, 2009.

Bishop voted Nay

H.Res. 1031 (110th): Providing for the adoption of the resolution (H. Res. 895) establishing within the House of Representatives an ...

Passed 229/182 on Mar 11, 2008.

Missed Votes

From Jan 1993 to Jan 2020, Bishop missed 687 of 17,893 roll call votes, which is 3.8%. This is worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives 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.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1993 Jan-Mar	127	6	4.7%	75^th
1993 Apr-Jun	190	13	6.8%	66^th
1993 Jul-Sep	164	1	0.6%	34^th
1993 Oct-Nov	134	1	0.7%	20^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	1	1.1%	16^th
1994 Apr-Jun	219	11	5.0%	76^th
1994 Jul-Sep	142	15	10.6%	84^th
1994 Oct-Nov	51	1	2.0%	51^st
1995 Jan-Mar	279	32	11.5%	96^th
1995 Apr-Jun	189	2	1.1%	32^nd
1995 Jul-Sep	232	17	7.3%	95^th
1995 Oct-Dec	185	3	1.6%	48^th
1996 Jan-Mar	110	4	3.6%	54^th
1996 Apr-Jun	182	1	0.5%	16^th
1996 Jul-Sep	163	6	3.7%	65^th
1997 Jan-Mar	71	3	4.2%	60^th
1997 Apr-Jun	174	2	1.1%	39^th
1997 Jul-Sep	232	1	0.4%	11^th
1997 Oct-Nov	163	2	1.2%	40^th
1998 Jan-Mar	89	1	1.1%	21^st
1998 Apr-Jun	185	1	0.5%	19^th
1998 Jul-Sep	199	2	1.0%	40^th
1998 Oct-Dec	74	3	4.1%	71^st
1999 Jan-Mar	77	1	1.3%	34^th
1999 Apr-Jun	184	5	2.7%	59^th
1999 Jul-Sep	204	8	3.9%	82^nd
1999 Oct-Nov	146	5	3.4%	64^th
2000 Jan-Mar	95	4	4.2%	55^th
2000 Apr-Jun	277	16	5.8%	81^st
2000 Jul-Sep	130	3	2.3%	60^th
2000 Oct-Dec	101	16	15.8%	79^th
2001 Jan-Mar	75	6	8.0%	91^st
2001 Apr-Jun	135	4	3.0%	62^nd
2001 Jul-Sep	149	7	4.7%	79^th
2001 Oct-Dec	153	6	3.9%	67^th
2002 Jan-Mar	79	0	0.0%	0^th
2002 Apr-Jun	203	6	3.0%	60^th
2002 Jul-Sep	141	8	5.7%	70^th
2002 Oct-Nov	61	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Jan-Mar	94	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Apr-Jun	239	3	1.3%	40^th
2003 Jul-Sep	193	3	1.6%	48^th
2003 Oct-Dec	151	0	0.0%	0^th
2004 Jan-Mar	104	2	1.9%	29^th
2004 Apr-Jun	221	0	0.0%	0^th
2004 Jul-Sep	161	25	15.5%	92^nd
2004 Oct-Dec	58	1	1.7%	41^st
2005 Jan-Mar	90	0	0.0%	0^th
2005 Apr-Jun	272	21	7.7%	85^th
2005 Jul-Sep	146	1	0.7%	25^th
2005 Oct-Dec	163	9	5.5%	78^th
2006 Jan-Mar	81	2	2.5%	61^st
2006 Apr-Jun	276	13	4.7%	83^rd
2006 Jul-Sep	159	0	0.0%	0^th
2006 Nov-Dec	27	0	0.0%	0^th
2007 Jan-Mar	213	3	1.4%	45^th
2007 Apr-Jun	393	8	2.0%	59^th
2007 Jul-Sep	317	28	8.8%	94^th
2007 Oct-Dec	263	6	2.3%	41^st
2008 Jan-Mar	149	11	7.4%	78^th
2008 Apr-Jun	321	10	3.1%	52^nd
2008 Jul-Sep	205	14	6.8%	83^rd
2008 Oct-Dec	15	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jan-Mar	174	4	2.3%	52^nd
2009 Apr-Jun	303	14	4.6%	76^th
2009 Jul-Sep	268	7	2.6%	63^rd
2009 Oct-Dec	246	4	1.6%	34^th
2010 Jan-Mar	195	17	8.7%	86^th
2010 Apr-Jun	219	7	3.2%	51^st
2010 Jul-Sep	151	7	4.6%	75^th
2010 Nov-Dec	99	5	5.1%	61^st
2011 Jan-Mar	212	2	0.9%	44^th
2011 Apr-Jun	281	5	1.8%	60^th
2011 Jul-Sep	247	34	13.8%	97^th
2011 Oct-Dec	208	12	5.8%	81^st
2012 Jan-Mar	151	4	2.6%	62^nd
2012 Apr-Jun	299	3	1.0%	38^th
2012 Jul-Sep	152	5	3.3%	73^rd
2012 Nov-Dec	51	1	2.0%	37^th
2013 Jan-Jan	5	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	89	8	9.0%	86^th
2013 Apr-Jun	215	4	1.9%	50^th
2013 Jul-Sep	200	4	2.0%	58^th
2013 Oct-Dec	137	30	21.9%	98^th
2014 Jan-Mar	148	2	1.4%	38^th
2014 Apr-Jun	219	21	9.6%	90^th
2014 Jul-Sep	147	4	2.7%	67^th
2014 Nov-Dec	49	1	2.0%	56^th
2015 Jan-Mar	144	1	0.7%	25^th
2015 Apr-Jun	244	6	2.5%	71^st
2015 Jul-Sep	139	3	2.2%	64^th
2015 Oct-Dec	177	4	2.3%	70^th
2016 Jan-Mar	137	3	2.2%	43^rd
2016 Apr-Jun	204	2	1.0%	33^rd
2016 Jul-Sep	232	9	3.9%	83^rd
2016 Nov-Dec	48	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	208	9	4.3%	80^th
2017 Apr-Jun	136	6	4.4%	79^th
2017 Jul-Sep	199	1	0.5%	37^th
2017 Oct-Dec	167	5	3.0%	66^th
2018 Jan-Mar	129	8	6.2%	81^st
2018 Apr-Jun	184	7	3.8%	64^th
2018 Jul-Sep	102	6	5.9%	84^th
2018 Nov-Dec	85	4	4.7%	70^th
2019 Jan-Mar	136	1	0.7%	32^nd
2019 Apr-Jun	294	9	3.1%	74^th
2019 Jul-Sep	125	3	2.4%	76^th
2019 Oct-Dec	146	11	7.5%	85^th
2020 Jan-Jan	22	0	0.0%	0^th

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

Rep. Sanford Bishop Jr.

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Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Committee Membership

Enacted Legislation

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Recent Bills

Voting Record

Key Votes

Bishop voted Aye

Bishop voted Yea

Bishop voted Aye

Bishop voted Yea

Bishop voted Aye

Bishop voted Aye

Bishop voted Aye

Bishop voted Yea

Bishop voted Aye

Bishop voted Aye

Bishop voted Nay

Bishop voted Nay

Missed Votes

Primary Sources