Rep. Sanford Bishop’s 2020 Report Card
Representative
from Georgia's 2nd District
Democrat
Serving Jan 5, 1993 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Bishop’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 30, 2021.
A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of Bishop’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.
Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.
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Held the 2nd most committee positions compared to Georgia DelegationBishop held a leadership position on 0 committees and 2 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Bishop’s Profile » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (71st percentile); House Democrats (79th percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 2nd most bills compared to Georgia DelegationBishop cosponsored 476 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (67th percentile); House Democrats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (68th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 4th fewest bills compared to Georgia Delegation (tied with 2 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 5472: Jimmy Carter National Historical Park … Compare to all Georgia Delegation (23rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (9th percentile); House Democrats (5th percentile); All Representatives (9th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got influential cosponsors the 10th least often compared to House Democrats (tied with 6 others)1 of Bishop’s bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward. Those bills were: H.R. 2620: Faster Treatments and Cures for … Compare to all Georgia Delegation (23rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (13th percentile); House Democrats (4th percentile); All Representatives (13th percentile). |
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Introduced the 15th fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 2 others)Bishop introduced 12 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (46th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (24th percentile); House Democrats (6th percentile); All Representatives (22nd percentile). |
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Got the 17th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House DemocratsBishop’s bills and resolutions had 87 cosponsors in the 116th Congress. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (20th percentile); House Democrats (7th percentile); All Representatives (19th percentile). |
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Ranked the 18th bottom/follower compared to House DemocratsOur unique leadership analysis looks at who is cosponsoring whose bills. A higher score shows a greater ability to get cosponsors on bills. For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 116th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Bishop’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Georgia Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (24th percentile); House Democrats (7th percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 26th most often compared to House DemocratsIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 476 bills that Bishop cosponsored, 16% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (23rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Democrats (89th percentile); All Representatives (49th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Wrote the 23rd most laws compared to All Representatives (tied with 9 others)Bishop introduced 4 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 116th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills » Those bills were: H.R. 265: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and …; H.R. 3164: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and …; H.R. 5472: Jimmy Carter National Historical Park …; H.R. 7610: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and … Compare to all Georgia Delegation (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); House Democrats (89th percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile). The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill. |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 25th fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 9 others)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 5 of Bishop’s 12 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Bishop caucused with in the 116th Congress. Compare to all Georgia Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (26th percentile); House Democrats (10th percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Ranked 38th most politically right compared to House DemocratsOur unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress. For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 116th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Bishop’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Georgia Delegation (31st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (51st percentile); House Democrats (84th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Bishop introduced 5 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.Res. 1054: Expressing the profound sorrow of …; H.R. 265: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and …; H.R. 3164: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and …; H.R. 5472: Jimmy Carter National Historical Park …; H.R. 7610: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and … Compare to all Georgia Delegation (69th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (66th percentile); House Democrats (53rd percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile). |
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Missed VotesBishop missed 3.1% of votes (30 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Bishop’s Profile » Compare to all Georgia Delegation (62nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (62nd percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile). The Speaker of the House, per current House rules, is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings” and is never recorded as missing a vote, and may not be included in the comparison with other representatives if not voting. The delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are not eligible to vote in most roll call votes and so may not appear here if not elligible for any vote during the time period of these statistics. |
Additional Notes
Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.
Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).
Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.
Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of the 116th Congress) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
