Conservative Performance Index - OK Senate

Following up on my Republican District Rating system, this post compares each legislator's conservative score to their district rating, to add up their Conservative Performance Index.

The conservative rating ('CR' in the spreadsheet) I used is an average of the American Conservative Union scores for Oklahoma legislators and the Oklahoma Constitution's Conservative Index. Using two sources broadens the perspective and scoring system.

Positive CPI scores indicate that the member's conservative voting outperforms their district. Negative scores show that the member is more liberal than the district.

In my last post, we looked at the CPI for State House members. Now, let's look at the CPI for State Senate members.


SD5 Sen. Joseph Silk has far and away the best CPI score at +45.4. The next four are all Republicans - SD6's Josh Brecheen (+32.7), SD33's Nathan Dahm (+31.9), SD4's Mark Allen (+31.6), and SD14's Frank Simpson (+31.4).

12 Republicans have CPI scores of +20 or better. Only two Democrats have positive scores: Anastasia Pittman (SD48, +7.2) and J.J. Dossett (SD34, +0.7). The only Republicans with negative scores are Ron Sharp (SD17, -1.6) and Bryce Marlatt (SD27, -1.6).

The average Republican CPI score is +15.0, and the average Democrat CPI score is -8.0.

13 senators are leaving office due to term limits, not seeking reelection, or losing their primary election. The average CPI for those leaving office is +2.0 (+7.1 for Republicans and -14.8 for Democrats). For the members who are running for reelection or elected without opposition, the average CPI is +13.9 (+17.7 for Republicans and -4.6 for Democrats).