Participation up in 2025 despite notable absences

WASHINGTON — Congressional attendance was up in 2025, in spite of off-year elections, a number of members beset with health crises and the political turmoil that marked President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In a Senate newly under Republican control and a House held by the slimmest of GOP majorities, lawmakers cast more votes last year than any other year since the pandemic.

According to the most recent survey of floor votes, the participation rate of lawmakers casting votes across both chambers was 96.8% in 2025, an increase of more than 2 percentage points over 2024.

The increase may be partly attributable to the political dynamics of a thin majority, as well as historical trends that have seen slight dips in attendance during election years, according to CQ Roll Call’s annual vote studies. The campaign trail remained a key factor and some of last year’s most notable absences were among those running for other office, either in special elections or in preparation for early 2026 primaries.

With the exception of 2022, when the Democratic-led House allowed members to cast proxy votes on each other’s behalf because of the coronavirus pandemic, previous election years saw similar dips to the 94% to 95% range before rising again in odd-numbered years.

Life gets in the way

In the House, nine Democrats and 14 Republicans were present for all of last year’s 361 non-quorum roll call votes. Familiar faces included GOP Rep. Bob Latta of Ohio, who hasn’t missed a vote since 2020, and Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota.

Emmer has called Latta’s attendance record the “gold standard” and praised him in a statement as a “team player [who] shows up ready to work for the people of his district.”

While Latta’s remains the record to beat, several House freshmen got a start with no missed votes last year. These included Maryland’s Sarah Elfreth and Michigan’s Kristen McDonald Rivet on the Democratic side of the aisle and Republicans Sheri Biggs of South Carolina, Craig Goldman of Texas, Mark Harris of North Carolina and Brian Jack of Georgia.

The bar for 100% attendance was significantly higher in the Senate, where only two lawmakers were present for all 659 roll call votes: GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and freshman Bernie Moreno of Ohio.

Latta said he’s been fortunate, acknowledging that health and other concerns can come up. Until recently, Rep. Steve Womack was on a hot streak, with more than 8,800 consecutive votes cast. But the Arkansas Republican missed some starting in November to be with his wife, who died in January.

Last year also saw several notable long-term absences due to health issues. Virginia Democrat Gerald E. Connolly missed a string of House votes after a recurrence of esophageal cancer early in the year that led to his death in April. Arizona Democratic Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva cast a single procedural vote in January before returning home to continue cancer treatment. Grijalva died in March.

Donald Norcross missed nearly a quarter of last year’s votes while dealing with a gallbladder infection. “I was close to death for almost five weeks,” the New Jersey Democrat told news outlet NOTUS.

Colorado Democrat Brittany Pettersen also missed roughly a quarter of last year’s votes after becoming the 13th member of Congress to give birth in office early in 2025. Pettersen ended up joining forces with Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna as the pair led an unsuccessful push to allow new parents to vote by proxy.

Luna ultimately backed down after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., agreed to allow the practice of “vote pairing,” a process traditionally used in the Senate, that enables absent members to make their position known without casting a vote by pairing with colleagues who would have voted opposite them.

Pettersen had her son in early 2025 and flew back to Washington sooner than she’d hoped, voting against Republicans’ budget resolution with her four-week-old infant in tow. The experience highlighted for her the difficulties faced by new parents and postpartum women to return to work, something she said many in Congress didn’t seem to grasp.

“You’re walking through the airport, sitting in the airplane, holding them nursing, trying to manage getting all of your stuff here to support your baby,” Pettersen said at the time. “And some people are unable to even walk at that point.”

On the road

For others, it was the campaign trail that kept them away from Capitol Hill. Among those with the lowest rates of attendance was former New Jersey Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who won a competitive race for governor in November. Sherrill, who left Congress on Nov. 20, was present for 43.6% of the votes she was eligible to cast in 2025.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who faced Sherrill in the June Democratic primary, missed roughly a fifth of last year’s votes, mostly in the weeks leading up to that election. He was present for nearly every vote for the remainder of the year.

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell missed nearly a third of last year’s votes as he launched his bid for California governor. And Texas Republican Wesley Hunt missed nearly a quarter of votes as he ran for the Senate — although he missed a similar number of votes in 2024, having cast 79% of the votes he was eligible for that year.

Hunt’s absences became a campaign issue, with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn highlighting his record ahead of the March 3 primary. That race has come down to an upcoming primary runoff between Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, with Hunt getting a distant third in the primary with 13.5% of the vote.

Not all candidates for higher office had so many absences and most posted numbers in the 90s, particularly if they had more time before their primary elections. Rep. Angie Craig, running in the Democratic primary for Minnesota’s open Senate seat, was present for 98.9% of last year’s votes. Wyoming’s Harriet M. Hageman, seeking the Republican nomination for Senate, was present 99.4% of the time. But the Minnesota and Wyoming primaries aren’t until August 2026.

Majority minefield

At least part of the rise in last year’s attendance rates may be attributable to the political risks of a paper-thin GOP majority: Both parties knew that even a few absences could potentially be enough to nullify the party’s advantage, giving every member an incentive to show up last year.

Between absences and vacancies, the majority and minority threshold was at times small enough that a single vote could change the outcome of a bill. In 2025, seven votes in the Senate came down to a tie vote that required the presence of Vice President JD Vance to break it the deciding vote.

In one instance, the absence of two senators helped Republicans thwart an effort by Democrats to pass a joint resolution that would have effectively ended the reciprocal and 10% baseline tariffs put in place by Trump in April 2025. And in the House, 30 floor votes came down to a margin of one or two votes.

Vote participation impacted House Democrats as well. House Republicans eked out a narrow win on their signature $9.4 billion rescission package in a dramatic floor vote that at times appeared to be doomed. Democrats were united in their opposition to the package, but their efforts were hampered by absences: Four Democrats missed the vote. The measure passed 214-212.

“The leadership team’s made it pretty clear — you can’t miss one [vote] unless you’re not feeling well, or it’s got to be something serious,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said in January of this year. “It’s a concern, but it is what it is. It’s reality.”

The GOP ended 2025 with a 220-213 majority, but the numbers have changed since the January resignation of Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, followed by the death of California GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa and the special election of Democratic Rep. Christian Menefee to Texas’ 18th District.

After losing a vote on a worker education bill in early January due to three absent members along with six GOP defectors, Republican leaders seemed resigned to their political realities and have continued to emphasize the importance of showing up.

“I’ve told everybody, and not in jest, I said, no adventure sports, no risk-taking, take your vitamins and stay healthy and be here,” Johnson said. “This is life with a small margin.”

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—Ryan Kelly, Valerie Yurk and Nina Heller contributed to this report.