Senator John Hoeven Votes With Senator Kent Conrad 58% Of The Time

A lot of conservatives in North Dakota (myself included) gripe about Republican Senator John Hoeven’s something-less-than-conservative track record. So, after a full year in the Senate, how is Senator Hoeven measuring up?

According to OpenConrgress.org, Senator Hoeven has voted with his fellow North Dakotan (and Democrat) Kent Conrad 58% of the time:

To put that in context, Republican Senators on average vote with Democrat Senators about 46% of the time. Meaning that Hoeven votes with Conrad a bit more often than Republicans vote with Democrats in general. For further context, Hoeven votes with Senators Jim DeMint and Rand Paul (consistently recognized as some of the most conservative members of the Senate) 70% and 66% of the time, respectively.

And one last name: Hoeven votes with Senator Olympia Snowe, often seen as the RINO di tutti RINOs, 82% of the time.

Of course, these sort of measurements need to be taken with a grain of salt. The numbers can be skewed by votes that really have no meaning in terms of ideology (the proverbial vote to name a post office, for instance), and they’re going to change depending on the sort of business the Senate takes up in a year.

It’s much better to look at votes on specific issues than just a broad comparison of all votes. But all the same, take this measurement for what it’s worth.