Cochran was a senator from Mississippi and was a Republican. He served from 1979 to 2018.
He was previously the representative for Mississippi’s 4th congressional district as a Republican from 1973 to 1978.
![Photo of Sen. Thad Cochran [R-MS, 1979-2018]](/static/legislator-photos/300023-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2017 Report Card for Cochran.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Cochran is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2019 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 Cochran sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2013 to Jan 2, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Cochran was the primary sponsor of 56 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 2558 (115th): Okhissa Lake Rural Economic Development Land Conveyance Act
- S. 1260 (115th): Gulf Islands National Seashore Land Exchange Act
- S. 644 (115th): Medgar Evers House Study Act
- S. 3350 (114th): Clarification of Treatment of Electronic Sales of Livestock Act of 2016
- S. 2129 (114th): An Act Making Appropriations to Improve the Nation’s Infrastructure and for Other Purposes, 2016
- S. 2130 (114th): An Act Making Appropriations for National Security and for Other Purposes, 2016
- S. 2131 (114th): An Act Making Appropriations for Law Enforcement and for Other Purposes, 2016
Does 56 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
Cochran sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Economics and Public Finance (28%) Health (28%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (22%) Transportation and Public Works (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (11%)
Recent Bills
Some of Cochran’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 2558 (115th): Okhissa Lake Rural Economic Development Land Conveyance Act
- S.Con.Res. 33 (115th): A concurrent resolution providing for a correction in the enrollment of H.R. ...
- S. 1260 (115th): Gulf Islands National Seashore Land Exchange Act
- S. 644 (115th): Medgar Evers House Study Act
- S.Con.Res. 53 (114th): A concurrent resolution directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to ...
- S. 3350 (114th): Clarification of Treatment of Electronic Sales of Livestock Act of 2016
- S. 3054 (114th): Preserving Civil Rights Heritage Act of 2016
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Feb 1979 to Mar 2018, Cochran missed 516 of 13,675 roll call votes, which is 3.8%. This is much worse than the median of 1.5% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Mar 2018. 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
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills