Who has been less effective than bernie sanders
Executive summary
The answer depends on the metric and the year: formal scoring systems and media studies identify a handful of lawmakers who score lower than Bernie Sanders on measures of legislative effectiveness or bipartisanship — most notably former Sen. Jim DeMint on the Lugar Center lifetime Bipartisan Index and several House Republicans such as Rep. Jim Jordan in specific Congresses on the Center for Effective Lawmaking’s lawmaking score [1] [2]. Those findings sit alongside competing evidence that Sanders has had high-impact years and remains politically popular, which complicates a simple declaration that he is uniquely ineffective [3] [4].
1. Metrics pick out different “less effective” lawmakers depending on what they measure
Scholars and scorekeepers do not measure the same thing: the Bipartisan Index measures cross-party sponsorship and co-sponsorship, the Center for Effective Lawmaking scores the odds that a member’s sponsorships become law, and outlets often cherry-pick a single snapshot year to make a point — so a lawmaker can rank low on one list but not another [1] [2] [3]. This methodological variety means the roster of people “less effective than Sanders” shifts with the yardstick used.
2. Jim DeMint is one clear example cited as less bipartisan than Sanders over a long stretch
The Lugar Center’s lifetime Bipartisan Index placed Bernie Sanders near the bottom of its lifetime Senate list, but it explicitly notes only a handful ranked lower across the 1993–2018 window, including former Sen. Jim DeMint, who scored worse than Sanders on that lifetime bipartisanship measure [1]. The index’s designers emphasize cross-aisle sponsorship as their definition of bipartisanship, and DeMint’s career move to lead a conservative think tank after leaving the Senate is noted by the Lugar Center’s commentary [1].
3. House and Senate snapshots name other low scorers in particular Congresses — e.g., Jim Jordan
The Center for Effective Lawmaking’s retrospective of the 117th Congress cited Rep. Jim Jordan as among the least effective House members by the center’s lawmaking metric for that term, a finding that places Jordan below many peers including, in some reports, Sanders when the comparison is restricted to the same metric and chamber/timeframe [2]. Those scores reflect the specific act of shepherding bills into law and committee movement during a given Congress, not broader influence or oversight activity [2].
4. Other high-profile names are sometimes singled out as “less effective” depending on the study and partisan outlet
A 2021 write-up in Campus Reform and other partisan or opinion-driven outlets listed Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez and Bernie Sanders among low scorers in a university study; that story and similar campaign press pieces warrant caution because of editorial framing and political motives — for example, Bloomberg campaign material was explicitly deployed as a political attack on Sanders’ legislative record [5] [6]. Major newspapers and think tanks also flagged senators like Elizabeth Warren as near the bottom on some effectiveness rankings, underscoring that ideological warriors frequently cluster at lower scores on these scales [7] [8].
5. Context matters: Sanders has had strong years, alternative influence, and high popularity
Researchers and fact-checkers note that Sanders has produced standout performance in certain years and chambers, that legislators contribute outside bill passage — through amendments, oversight, hearings and agenda-setting — and that Sanders’ popularity and ability to move issues like Medicare for All onto the national stage are real forms of political influence not captured by raw passage counts [3] [9] [4]. Studies themselves caution against equating low passage rates with overall incompetence, and some academic authors explicitly connect bipartisanship with higher lawmaking scores, which partly explains why ideological, cross-party-averse figures often rank low [5] [2].
6. Bottom line: who has been less effective than Sanders?
On the Lugar Center lifetime Bipartisan Index, former Sen. Jim DeMint ranks below Sanders [1]; on the Center for Effective Lawmaking’s per‑Congress lawmaking scores, figures such as Rep. Jim Jordan registered lower effectiveness numbers in the 117th Congress [2]. Beyond those specific examples, several outlets and studies name other ideological lawmakers as less effective than many peers in certain measures — but the conclusion rests entirely on which metric and year one chooses, and political or campaign sources have clear incentives to amplify particular narratives [5] [6] [7].