Roberts rates as eighth-most conservative senator; McCaskill sits at No. 50
The closely watched National Journal ratings are out.
The non-partisan political news service rates all members of Congress each year on a scale of most conservative to most liberal, and the ratings typically are fodder for election ads and campaign mailers.
The surprises this time around when it comes to the MO-KAN delegations?
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts now ranks as the eighth-most conservative senator in the nation. He faces a primary challenge this year from tea partier Milton Wolf.
Also in Kansas, U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who’s widely viewed as a conservative firebrand, ranked as the 164th most conservative member of the House while his colleagues, Kevin Yoder (66th most conservative), Lynn Jenkins (94th) and Mike Pompeo (48th) all ranked to the right of him.
Other members:
• Roberts’ sidekick, Sen. Jerry Moran, was rated at #16 most conservative senator.
• In Missouri, Sen. Roy Blunt was listed as the 42nd most conservative senator and Sen. Claire McCaskill was the 50th most conservative and the 49th most liberal, placing her smack-dab in the Senate’s center. She’s been there in prior years, too.
Said McCaskill in a statement, “I haven’t made folks on either extreme of the political spectrum happy, and I’ve stepped on a lot of toes since I came to the Senate, but that’s okay.”
• In the House from Missouri, Vicky Hartzler rated as the 87th most conservative, Sam Graves the 54th most conservative and Emanuel Cleaver the 111th most liberal.
The House ratings
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The Senate ratings
This story was originally published February 10, 2014 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Roberts rates as eighth-most conservative senator; McCaskill sits at No. 50."