Former senator · Alabama

Richard C. Shelby

Richard C. Shelby served in Congress from 1979 to 2023, last as a Republican senator from Alabama. In the 117th Congress, 949 roll calls were held while they served; they missed 69, and cast 683 of 713 party-unity votes with the majority of their caucus.

Party
Republican
Chamber
Senate
Former
In Congress since
Jan 15, 1979
Last term ended
Jan 3, 2023
Open in the Congress explorerOfficial record
Photo: Government Publishing Office (public domain)

Record by Congress

Counts with their denominators for each Congress and chamber served. Ranks are among members who served most of that Congress (100 or more roll calls): rank 1 did it most often. A description, not a grade.

CongressRoll callsMissedVotes with partySponsoredCosponsored across the aisle
117th CongressSenate9497.3%69 of 949 · rank 13 of 10096%683 of 713 · rank 69 of 10080 became law29%16 of 55

Ideology (DW-NOMINATE)

Voteview's DW-NOMINATE first dimension estimates where members sit from all their roll calls: liberal (−1) to conservative (+1). It describes voting patterns, not views. Shown for the 117th Congress (Senate), with each party's median and the chamber's range.

Liberal −1+0.45+1 Conservative

Source: Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/

Votes against their party

The latest party-unity votes on bills and amendments where the member voted yea or nay against most of their caucus.

  1. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 73–24· Against party
  2. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Nay
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 34–63· Against party
  3. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Nay
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 34–63· Against party
  4. H.R. 6833: Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Sep 29, 2022· Senate· Passage· On Passage of the Bill· Bill Passed 72–25· Against party
  5. H.R. 2471: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022Nay
    Mar 10, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 35–64· Against party
  6. H.R. 2471: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022Nay
    Mar 10, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 35–64· Against party
  7. H.R. 6617: Further Additional Extending Government Funding ActYea
    Feb 17, 2022· Senate· Passage· On Passage of the Bill· Bill Passed 65–27· Against party
  8. H.R. 6119: Further Extending Government Funding ActYea
    Dec 2, 2021· Senate· Passage· On Passage of the Bill· Bill Passed 69–28· Against party

Recent votes

The latest roll calls on bills and amendments, with the member's recorded position.

  1. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 93–4
  2. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 90–6
  3. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Nay
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 88–8· Against party
  4. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 92–5
  5. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Agreed to 73–24· Against party
  6. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 40–57
  7. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 44–53
  8. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 47–50
  9. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Nay
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 10–87
  10. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 47–50
  11. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Nay
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 34–63· Against party
  12. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Nay
    Dec 22, 2022· Senate· Amendments· On the Amendment· Amendment Rejected 34–63· Against party

Sponsored bills

Bills and resolutions the member introduced as sponsor in the loaded Congresses. Volume is not quality: most measures never leave committee.

8 sponsored · 0 became law

How far they got

  1. Introduced675%
  2. Passed one chamber225%

Policy areas

  1. Economics and Public Finance3
  2. Agriculture and Food1
  3. Native Americans1
  4. Public Lands and Natural Resources1
  5. Sports and Recreation1
  6. Taxation1

Latest activity

  1. S. 3443 MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians Recognition Act
    Introduced· Native Americans· Mar 23, 2022
  2. S.Res. 471 A resolution commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Alabama Farmers Federation and celebrating the long history of the Alabama Farmers Federation serving as the voice for Alabama agriculture and forestry.
    Passed one chamber· Agriculture and Food· Jan 20, 2022
  3. S. 1643 Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area Act
    Introduced· Public Lands and Natural Resources· Oct 6, 2021
  4. S. 2789 Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act
    Introduced· Economics and Public Finance· Sep 22, 2021
  5. S. 2312 A bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, and for other purposes.
    Introduced· Economics and Public Finance· Jul 12, 2021
  6. S. 1653 SMART Act
    Introduced· Taxation· May 17, 2021
  7. S.J.Res. 12 A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which requires (except during time of war and subject to suspension by Congress) that the total amount of money expended by the United States during any fiscal year not exceed the amount of certain revenue received by the United States during such fiscal year and not exceed 20 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States during the previous calendar year.
    Introduced· Economics and Public Finance· Mar 18, 2021
  8. S.Res. 93 A resolution congratulating the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team for winning the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association College Football Playoff National Championship.
    Passed one chamber· Sports and Recreation· Mar 3, 2021

Committees

Seats as published by the congress-legislators project. Past seats are those no longer listed since Analisa began recording them.

No committee seats are listed.

Campaign money

What the member's campaigns reported receiving, per FEC two-year cycle, and the federal contracts of the organizations that sponsor the giving PACs (each sponsor matched to a contract recipient by AI, with its probability). Comparisons of public records: neither explains the other.

2024 cycle

Raised
$14.3K
through Sep 30, 2023
Cash on hand
$0
From committees
-$1,000
0 committees
From contractor PACs
$0
0 PACs · — of committee money
IndividualsPACsPartySelf

By cycle

CycleRaised (FEC summary)From committeesFrom contractor PACs
2024$14.3K-$1,000$00 PACs · — of committee money
2022$22.6K-$15K-$7,0000 PACs · — of committee money

Raised is the FEC's cumulative summary of the candidacy; committee money counts each contribution reported, so the two cover slightly different dates.

Terms

Every term in the House or Senate, as published by the congress-legislators project.

  1. Senate · AlabamaJan 3, 2017 – Jan 3, 2023
  2. Senate · AlabamaJan 5, 2011 – Jan 3, 2017
  3. Senate · AlabamaJan 4, 2005 – Jan 3, 2011
  4. Senate · AlabamaJan 6, 1999 – Jan 3, 2005
  5. Senate · AlabamaJan 5, 1993 – Jan 3, 1999
  6. Senate · AlabamaJan 6, 1987 – Jan 3, 1993
  7. House · Alabama's 7th districtJan 3, 1985 – Jan 3, 1987
  8. House · Alabama's 7th districtJan 3, 1983 – Jan 3, 1985
  9. House · Alabama's 7th districtJan 5, 1981 – Jan 3, 1983
  10. House · Alabama's 7th districtJan 15, 1979 – Jan 3, 1981

Identifiers

The same member in other public records.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Congressional district boundaries and relationship files (U.S. Census Bureau)U.S. Census Bureau, Cartographic Boundary Files (congressional districts) and 2020 relationship files · release cd116+cd118+cd119 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Committees, candidates and committee contributions to candidates (Federal Election Commission)FEC bulk data: committee master, candidate master (candidates' names, no addresses), linkages, PAC summaries, all-candidates summaries and contributions from committees (no individual contributors) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov)USAspending.gov, prime award contract transactions (FPDS) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Activity counts describe volume and attendance; they are not a measure of quality.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.