Analysis ยท October 21, 2026
Senators who miss the most votes
The Senate has held 915 roll-call votes this Congress. Three senators have missed more than one in eight, and only three have missed none.
The Senate votes more often than the House. In the 119th Congress it has held 915 roll-call votes so far, compared with 674 in the House. A large share of those votes are on nominations: the Senate must confirm cabinet officers, judges, ambassadors and hundreds of other officials, and many confirmations get a recorded vote. That gives senators more chances to miss a vote, and more chances to show up.
The overall picture
The typical senator has missed about 18 roll calls, an attendance rate of 97.9%. That is a little below the House, where the median member has attended 98.1%. But the Senate has fewer members at the very bottom. Only three senators have missed more than 10% of their votes, and none has gone below 85%, the point where the attendance score reaches zero.
- 23 senators have voted on at least 99% of roll calls.
- Three have a perfect record this Congress: Susan M. Collins of Maine, Jon Husted of Ohio and Alan Armstrong of Oklahoma, who took office in March 2026.
- Collins's perfect record stands out because Collins has served the whole Congress and has voted on all 915 roll calls.
The senators who have missed the most
| Senator | Missed | Attendance | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mitch McConnell (R-KY) | 137 of 915 | 85.0% | F |
| Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) | 116 of 915 | 87.3% | F |
| Thom Tillis (R-NC) | 114 of 915 | 87.5% | F |
| Michael F. Bennet (D-CO) | 82 of 915 | 91.0% | F |
| Bernard Sanders (I-VT) | 64 of 915 | 93.0% | D |
| Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) | 60 of 915 | 93.4% | C+ |
| Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) | 60 of 915 | 93.4% | D |
| John Fetterman (D-PA) | 59 of 915 | 93.6% | D |
| Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) | 53 of 915 | 94.2% | B |
| Jerry Moran (R-KS) | 53 of 915 | 94.2% | C |
| Peter Welch (D-VT) | 53 of 915 | 94.2% | C+ |
Darline Graham of South Carolina, who joined the Senate in July 2026, has missed 5 of the 62 votes held since taking office, an attendance rate of 91.9%. That report card is marked as a partial term.
Attendance and the grade
The table shows something the House list does not: several senators with middling attendance still earn respectable grades. Marsha Blackburn has a B despite missing 53 votes, because Blackburn has sponsored 127 bills (the second-most in the Senate) and two of them became law. Tammy Duckworth has a C+, helped by cosponsoring more than 400 bills. At 94% attendance the attendance score is about 61, which drags the overall grade down but can be offset by strong bill scores.
Below about 91%, the math gets much harder. A senator at 87% attendance earns an attendance score of about 15, and since attendance is 40% of the grade, even top marks on both bill scores leave the overall score in the 60s. Mitch McConnell, who has also sponsored fewer bills and cosponsored fewer than almost any other senator, has the lowest overall score in the Senate at 31.
Why senators miss votes
The record does not say why a senator missed a vote, and Congress Report Card doesn't guess. The usual reasons are the same as in the House: illness and recovery, family events, official travel, and campaigning. Senate floor schedules can also be unpredictable. Votes are sometimes called with little notice, late at night or in long series known as "vote-a-ramas" during budget debates, when the Senate can hold dozens of roll calls in a single session. Missing one of those days can add many missed votes at once.
Senators who are running for another office, such as governor, tend to spend more time in their home state, and their attendance often drops during the campaign. Senators who are retiring sometimes miss more votes in their final months. Neither pattern is visible in the numbers alone. If a senator's attendance looks unusually low, their official website, linked from their report card page, is the best place to look for an explanation.
Senate attendance in context
Senate votes are often held open far longer than the scheduled 15 minutes so that senators can arrive from committee hearings or meetings. That practice makes it easier for senators to record a vote even on a busy day, which partly explains why Senate attendance is high despite the large number of votes.
On the other hand, the Senate's tight margins mean that a single absence can matter. With 53 Republicans and 47 senators in the Democratic caucus, a few absences can change whether a nomination is confirmed or a motion succeeds. That's one reason party leaders work hard to keep their members on the floor for close votes, and one reason voters notice when a senator is often absent.
How to compare your senators
Every senator's report card shows their attendance next to the Senate median, their rank within their party and their rank within their state's delegation. The state pages put both senators beside your representatives. For the House version of this list, see House members who miss the most votes, and for the full scoring rules see the methodology.
Figures are from the Congress Report Card data as of October 21, 2026. Grades change as Congress votes, so the numbers on member pages may have moved since. How grades are calculated.