Democratic Women In Congress: A 22 Year Review

To measure how progressive members of Congress were, we used the Liberal Composite scores that National Journal provides on an annual basis, which use key votes to summarize each Member of Congress’s voting tendencies.  Members were then split into voting blocs by party and gender, and an average for each party-gender category was calculated for each year. An average for the overall Congress was calculated as well, as a barometer for the year’s political climate.

We found that Democratic women have been the most liberal voting bloc in Congress for the past 22 years. And that they have had the most liberal voting record on social issues as well.