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Sen. Steve Daines

Senator for Montana

pronounced steev // daynz

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Daines is the junior senator from Montana and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 6, 2015. Daines is next up for reelection in 2026 and serves until Jan 3, 2027.

He was previously the representative for Montana’s at-large district as a Republican from 2013 to 2014.

Daines is among the Republican legislators who, by calling for entire states to be disenfranchised in the 2020 presidential election, fomented the terrorist attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 that aimed to prevent the determination of the next president of the United States. In the days leading up to January 6, Daines had announced his intent to object on that day to the inclusion of some states in the count of electors that determines the next president, disenfranchising millions of voters based on lies, conspiracy theories, and preposterous legal theories all falsely claiming various sorts of mass fraud that did not occur. The announcement amplified the message that inspired the attack on the Capitol.
Photo of Sen. Steve Daines [R-MT]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 Report Card for Daines.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Daines 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 Daines has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jun 17, 2021. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

The Club for Growth: 81% United States Chamber of Commerce: 78% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: B+ American Civil Liberties Union: 33% League of Conservation Voters: 6% Human Rights Campaign: 0% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 0%

Committee Membership

Steve Daines sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Daines was the primary sponsor of 17 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 17 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

Daines sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (21%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (21%) Taxation (17%) Health (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (8%) Science, Technology, Communications (6%) Native Americans (6%)

Recent Bills

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

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Daines voted Yea

Veto Sustained 53/45 on May 2, 2019.
A recently House-passed bill, which seems likely to pass in the Senate, could mark President Trump's first veto in office. ## Context Yemen has been ...

Daines voted Yea

Joint Resolution Passed 54/46 on Mar 13, 2019.
A recently House-passed bill, which seems likely to pass in the Senate, could mark President Trump's first veto in office. ## Context Yemen has been ...

Daines voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 71/28 on Feb 9, 2018.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of funding for the federal government through March 23, 2018, to avert a government shutdown that would have ...

Daines voted Yea

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 ...

Daines voted Yea

Daines voted Aye

Daines voted Nay

Passed 303/121 on May 22, 2014.

Daines voted Nay

Passed 359/67 on Jan 15, 2014.
This is the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014, the bill that set the federal budget for fiscal year 2014. The bill began as the Space ...

Daines voted Nay

Passed 354/67 on Jan 4, 2013.

Missed Votes

From Jan 2015 to Jun 2021, Daines missed 15 of 2,061 roll call votes, which is 0.7%. This is better than the median of 1.6% 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.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: