U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., once was on the list of the 10 most bipartisan members of the Senate. He was willing to reach across the political aisle and work with Democrats on common goals.
Also in the upper tier, over in the House of Representatives, was U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican whose district includes northern Palm Beach County.
At the same time — four years ago — U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, now the senior Democrat in the Florida Congressional Delegation, was a far more partisan player than either Mast or Rubio.
No more.
As tribal purity and fealty to former President Donald Trump have become prized characteristics for Republicans, Mast and Rubio have turned notably more partisan.
The latest Bipartisan Index, released last month by the Lugar Center at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, found they’re much less likely to work cooperatively with Democrats than they were four years ago.
Wasserman Schultz, meanwhile, moved in the opposite direction.
Once a national Democratic Party chair who was vilified by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans, Wasserman Schultz is operating in a more bipartisan way, the Lugar Center’s analysis showed.
Bipartisan Index
Overall, the Lugar Center reported, the results showed “an intensely partisan Congress.” In South Florida, for example, just three of the nine representatives from Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties — Wasserman Schultz, Democrat Lois Frankel and Republican Maria Elvira Salazar — were rated as bipartisan.
The other six Democrats and Republicans fell short, as did many of their colleagues across the country.
“Bipartisan cooperation on legislation in 2023 was deficient by historical standards, though there were some marginal improvements in scores from the previous Congress,” the center’s policy director Dan Diller, said in a written statement.
The Lugar Center reported that the data it released last month showed a “small improvement” from 2021.
The center was founded by the late U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and it launched the Bipartisan Index in 2014.
It quantifies how often members of Congress introduce bills that attract co-sponsors from the other party, and how often they in turn co-sponsor bills from lawmakers in the other party. They exclude non-binding resolutions and ceremonial bills.
The Lugar Center considers any score above zero as a “good” score. Those with the highest scores are ranked at the top and those with the most negative scores are at the bottom. The higher the positive number, the more bipartisan the lawmaker is considered. A larger negative indicates greater partisanship.
Because separate data are used for representatives and senators, the Lugar Center said House and Senate members are not directly comparable.
Glimmers
There’s little indication of immediate, major change in the hyper-polarized world of U.S. politics, at least in the short term.
After a New York jury convicted Trump of 34 felony counts on May 30, Rubio, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and 11 other Republican senators pledged to oppose confirmation of any of President Joe Biden’s nominees, including judges, and said they’d try to slow action on legislation sponsored by Democrats unless they deem it “directly relevant” to public safety.
And there isn’t a complete breakdown of bipartisan cooperation.
This week, for example, Wasserman Schultz and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Miami-Dade County Republican, joined with the other co-chairs of the congressional Latino-Jewish Caucus, in sponsoring a resolution commemorating the anniversary of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.
Diaz-Balart, the analysis shows, is more partisan than he was four years earlier even as Wasserman Schultz has become less partisan.
One possible factor: Diaz-Balart, the dean of the Florida delegation, and Wasserman Schultz have long worked together — dating to their overlapping service in the Florida Legislature more than three decades ago. Currently they’re senior members of the important House Appropriations Committee.
Wasserman Schultz, South Florida’s most bipartisan Democrat, partnered with Salazar, the region’s most bipartisan Republican, this week to urge the Biden administration to take action to protect CITGO, the American subsidiary of a Venezuelan energy company. CITGO is threatened because of decisions by the country’s authoritarian president, Nicholas Maduro, they said.
Wasserman Schultz and Salazar, who were joined by seven other lawmakers, are the only two from South Florida in the top 20% in the House.
South Florida’s newest member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat who represents Broward and Palm Beach counties, has a negative score, so he’s not among lawmakers the Lugar Center labels bipartisan.
But he’s planted seeds that could lead to future cooperation.
Last year, he and a Republican colleague formed the Congressional Sneaker Caucus, dedicated to what they said was their shared love of sneakers. Moskowitz said the sneakers he constantly wears were “a starting point for conversation with my colleagues.”
Last month, he was part of a trio that started the Congressional Dog Lovers Caucus. “Their joy to live brings together Americans from all walks of life and can help nourish bipartisanship in Congress,” Moskowitz said in a statement.
Senators
Scott, the former governor who is seeking reelection to his second Senate term in November, is one of the most partisan members of the chamber in which he serves.
With a score of minus 0.95, he ranked No. 84, putting him among the most partisan of the 100 senators. Four years ago, he had a score of minus 0.45, and ranked No. 81.
(Scores above zero are considered bipartisan by the Lugar Center, with the highest positive numbers showing greater bipartisanship. Negative numbers indicate greater partisanship. A No. 1 ranking in the Senate or House would be the most bipartisan lawmaker in the chamber. A ranking of 90 in the Senate or 400 in the House would put the lawmaker among the most partisan group.)
While seeking reelection, Scott is also campaigning among his Senate colleagues, hoping they’ll pick him as Republican leader after the November elections.
Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Miami-Dade County Democrat, is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge him.
Mucarsel-Powell served one term in the House. In 2019, the first year of that term, she had a score of minus 0.95, which put her at No. 409, putting among the most partisan lawmakers that year.
Rubio was No. 40 in the Senate, with a score of 0.08, which put him fifth from the bottom on the bipartisan list. That represents a significant decline for Rubio, who four years ago had a score of 1.50 and was No. 9 in the Senate.
He won reelection in 2022, and is currently hoping Trump will name him as his 2024 vice presidential running mate.
Wasserman Schultz
Wasserman Schultz, holds a party leadership role as a co-chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, but scores in the upper tier of bipartisanship.
Her latest ranking is No. 67 with a score of 0.39. Four years ago, she was No. 233 with a score of minus 0.14.
“In these deeply divided times, common ground is much harder to find. So is civility. I try to forge relationships outside of the ‘arena’ because that makes working together inside it much more likely. And while I refuse to abandon my principles, I will never hesitate to reach across the aisle to make our community and nation stronger,” Wasserman Schultz said via email. She was a founder of the annual Congressional Women’s Softball game, in which Democrats and Republicans come together to raise money for an organization that assists young adults diagnosed with breast cancer.
Chris Eddy, a Weston commissioner and Republican challenging Wasserman Schultz, focused on earlier ratings showing her as more partisan.
“In this volatile political climate, voters are looking for someone who represents their District and not just the Washington District,” he said via email. “Representatives are supposed to represent all the voters and not just a subsection of even their own party,” Eddy said, arguing that Republicans, independents and “most Democrats” are not being represented by Wasserman Schultz.
Representatives
Salazar was by far the most bipartisan member of the House of Representatives from South Florida last year.
The Lugar Center ranked her at No. 11 in the House, with a score of 1.72. (She wasn’t in office four years ago.)
The most partisan South Florida lawmaker is U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson. The Democrat who represents parts of South Broward and Miami-Dade County, ranked No. 335 in the House out of 435 representatives with a score of minus 1.01.
Four years ago, Wilson ranked 424 with a score of minus 1.18.
The Salazar-Wilson contrast illustrates an element of bipartisanship, or lack of it.
Salazar represents a highly competitive district, which makes it more important to appeal to all voters. Wilson has an overwhelmingly Democratic district, which means it isn’t a political imperative to appeal to voters in the other party because there are so few, and more important to appeal to her party’s base.
Others:
- U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Broward/Palm Beach county Democrat, ranked No. 203, with a score of minus 0.39. She wasn’t serving four years ago.
- Diaz-Balart ranked No. 176 with a score of minus 0.23. Four years ago he ranked No. 121 with a score of 0.24.
- Frankel, a Palm Beach County Democrat, ranked No. 112 with a score of 0.10. Four years ago she ranked 240 with a score of minus 0.17.
- U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Miami-Dade County Republican, ranked 306 from the top, with a negative score of 0.87. He wasn’t serving four years ago.
- Mast, who represents northern Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, ranked No. 239 with a score of minus 0.59. Four years ago he ranked No. 56 with a score of 0.78.
- Moskowitz ranked 161 with a score of minus 0.15. He wasn’t serving four years ago.
The House has 435 members and the Senate 100. People who served less than six months weren’t rated and the top leaders in each chamber weren’t rated because their roles are inherently partisan, the Center said.
Prominent players
Many lawmakers who have gained prominence, often by being outspoken in verbal combat about the opposition, are also often more partisan in their work.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Panhandle Republican who was instrumental in bringing about the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, ranked 410, putting him among the most partisan members of the House, with a score of minus 1.59.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a prominent progressive, ranked 435 with a score of minus 2.08.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ranked 415 with a score of minus 1.69.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has used the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee to attack the Biden administration, ranked 436 with a score of minus 2.12.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., the democratic socialist who twice ran for president, ranked 91 in the Senate with a score of minus 1.23.
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who delivered the widely panned Republican response to the president’s State of the Union address in February, was last, ranking at 98 with a score of minus 1.67.
U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the prominent anti-Trump Republican who was his party’s 2012 presidential nominee, ranked 28 with a score of 0.4.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.