Congressional Public Lands Score by More Than Just Parks
Christopher Coons
Voted for public lands on every scored vote of the Congress and never missed one. Seat on the 2026 ballot.
Sen. Christopher Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, earns an A+ on the Congressional Public Lands Score. Of the 19 scored Senate votes, Coons cast 19 for public lands and 0 against. The two closest: Nay on One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1), 50 to 50, and Nay on Overturning Boundary Waters Mining Ban (H.J.Res.140), 50 to 49. Coons's seat is on the ballot in November 2026.
Every scored vote: 19 of 19 U.S. Senate votes counted
- Pro-landsLilly Fish and Wildlife and Parks (En Bloc) S.Res.817
En bloc confirmation of 74 nominees under S.Res.817, including Kevin Lilly as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, the official overseeing the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Lilly, a Texas wealth manager, drew formal opposition from the National Parks Conservation Association, and senators from both parties questioned his lack of land management experience. Confirmed 51-47. Senators who voted Yea confirmed every nominee in the package.
Voted Nay · August 7, 2026 · Roll call 225, 51 to 47
- Pro-landsPearce BLM Director (En Bloc) S.Res.690
En bloc confirmation of 49 nominees under S.Res.690, including Stevan Pearce as Director of the Bureau of Land Management, the agency managing 245 million acres of public land. As a congressman, Pearce repeatedly backed transferring or selling federal public land. Confirmed 46-43. Senators who voted Yea confirmed every nominee in the package.
Voted Nay · May 18, 2026 · Roll call 125, 46 to 43
- Pro-landsOverturning Boundary Waters Mining Ban H.J.Res.140
CRA resolution overturning the 20-year mining ban on 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the most visited wilderness in America. Became Public Law 119-85.
Voted Nay · April 16, 2026 · Roll call 84, 50 to 49
- Pro-landsOpening Arctic Refuge to Drilling H.J.Res.131
CRA resolution overturning the 2024 environmental protections for oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, stripping safeguards from the 1.56-million-acre coastal plain calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd
Voted Nay · December 4, 2025 · Roll call 632, 49 to 45
- Pro-landsOverturning Powder River Basin Coal Protections (WY) H.J.Res.130
CRA resolution nullifying the Bureau of Land Management's 2024 Buffalo Field Office resource management plan amendment in Wyoming, which made approximately 413,000 acres of federal coal unavailable for future leasing in the Powder River Basin.
Voted Nay · November 20, 2025 · Roll call 623, 51 to 43
- Pro-landsOpening Western Arctic to Drilling S.J.Res.80
CRA resolution nullifying the 2022 management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which had closed about half of the 23-million-acre Western Arctic reserve to new oil and gas leasing
Voted Nay · October 30, 2025 · Roll call 599, 52 to 45
- Pro-landsOverturning Central Yukon Protections (AK) H.J.Res.106
CRA resolution nullifying the Bureau of Land Management's Central Yukon resource management plan in Alaska, which designated 21 areas of critical environmental concern covering approximately 3.6 million acres. The resolution removed a land-plan barrier to the Ambler Road, which would cross Gates of the Arctic National Preserve; the administration had restored the road's federal permits three days earlier. Became Public Law 119-50.
Voted Nay · October 9, 2025 · Roll call 560, 50 to 46
- Pro-landsOverturning Miles City BLM Protections (MT) H.J.Res.104
CRA resolution rolling back Bureau of Land Management resource management plans for the Miles City Field Office in Montana, opening public lands to expanded industrial use
Voted Nay · October 8, 2025 · Roll call 549, 52 to 47
- Pro-landsOverturning North Dakota BLM Protections H.J.Res.105
CRA resolution rolling back Bureau of Land Management resource management plans for the North Dakota Field Office, removing protections from public lands across the state
Voted Nay · October 8, 2025 · Roll call 556, 50 to 45
- Pro-landsBoren USDA Under Secretary (En Bloc) S.Res.412
En bloc confirmation of 108 nominees under S.Res.412, including Michael Boren as USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, the official directly overseeing the U.S. Forest Service. Confirmed 51-47. Senators who voted Yea confirmed every nominee in the package.
Voted Nay · October 7, 2025 · Roll call 547, 51 to 47
- Pro-landsNesvik USFWS Director PN25-35
Confirmed Brian Nesvik as Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency responsible for endangered species protections and the National Wildlife Refuge System
Voted Nay · August 1, 2025 · Roll call 470, 54 to 43
- Pro-landsOne Big Beautiful Bill H.R.1
Reconciliation bill mandating four Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain lease sales, five National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska lease sales, a four-million-acre coal leasing mandate, coal royalty rate cuts from 12.5% to 7%, a 250-million-board-foot yearly increase in national forest timber sales through 2034, and rescinding Inflation Reduction Act conservation funding
Voted Nay · July 1, 2025 · Roll call 372, 50 to 50
- Pro-landsVaden Deputy Agriculture PN12-43
Confirmed Stephen Vaden as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, second in command of the department that houses the U.S. Forest Service
Voted Nay · June 10, 2025 · Roll call 301, 51 to 44
- Pro-landsMacGregor Deputy Interior PN13-10
Confirmed Katharine MacGregor as Deputy Secretary of the Interior, the department's chief operating officer, who led first-term efforts to shrink national monuments and expand drilling on public lands
Voted Nay · May 14, 2025 · Roll call 250, 54 to 40
- Pro-landsOverturning Glen Canyon Safeguards H.J.Res.60
CRA resolution overturning the National Park Service rule limiting off-road vehicle use in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, reopening those routes to motorized use
Voted Nay · May 8, 2025 · Roll call 239, 50 to 43
- Pro-landsPreventing Public Lands Sell-Off S.Amdt.2107
Budget resolution amendment (H.Con.Res.14) to bar the use of proceeds from selling federal public land for deficit reduction, the Senate's recorded vote on public land sales ahead of the reconciliation bill
Voted Yea · April 5, 2025 · Roll call 181, 48 to 51
- Pro-landsReinstating Fired Land Managers S.Amdt.540
Budget resolution amendment (S.Con.Res.7) creating a reserve fund to reinstate the federal employees fired from the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service
Voted Yea · February 20, 2025 · Roll call 68, 48 to 52
- Pro-landsRollins Agriculture Confirmation PN11-12
Confirmed Brooke Rollins as Secretary of Agriculture, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service and 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands
Voted Nay · February 13, 2025 · Roll call 53, 72 to 28
- Pro-landsBurgum Confirmation PN11-3
Confirmed Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior, who oversees the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, despite his stated agenda to expand oil and gas extraction on public land
Voted Nay · January 30, 2025 · Roll call 26, 80 to 17
Roll calls and tallies from senate.gov, read October 26, 2026. Which side counts as pro-lands is the scorecard's call on each vote (methodology). Provision ratings: none of these bills has an approved rating yet, so none is named here.
Call Senator Coons through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Open the full record in the scorecardPublic lands bills Coons sponsors or cosponsors
In the 119th Congress, Coons sponsors 2 and cosponsors 3 public lands bills.
- S.4011 Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2026
Sponsor · Introduced March 5, 2026 · Not yet rated
- S.Res.449 Designating the week beginning on October 12, 2025, as "National Wildlife Refuge Week"
Sponsor · Introduced October 9, 2025 · Not yet rated
- S.Res.837 Designating the week of August 22 through August 30, 2026, as "National Park Week"
Original cosponsor · Signed on August 6, 2026 · Not yet rated
- S.2179 Canyon’s Law
Cosponsor · Signed on June 9, 2026 · Not yet rated
- S.Res.180 Designating the week of April 19 through April 27, 2025, as "National Park Week"
Original cosponsor · Signed on April 10, 2025 · Not yet rated
Bills and cosponsors from the congress.gov API, read October 5, 2026. A bill is rated only when a named person approves a rating that quotes its provision; none of these has one yet.
Coons's committees
- Senate Committee on Appropriations
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Department of Defense (Ranking Member); Energy and Water Development; Financial Services and General Government; State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
- Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Africa and Global Health Policy; East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy (Ranking Member); Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy, and Environmental Policy; State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development
- Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
- Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Border Security and Immigration; Crime and Counterterrorism; Intellectual Property; Privacy, Technology, and the Law
- Senate Select Committee on Ethics (Vice Chairman)
Committee seats from unitedstates/congress-legislators, read July 3, 2026.
Public lands in Delaware
6 federal land units lie in or reach into Delaware.
Listed by size.
- Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge 15,385 acres
- Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge 10,141 acres
- Dover Air Force Base 3,167 acres
- Bombay Hook Proposed Wilderness Area 1,679 acres
- First State National Historical Park 889 acres
- National Guard River Road Training Site 191 acres
None of the places on the threatened public lands map is in Delaware.
Federal land units from PAD-US, matched to the state's districts in the More Than Just Parks record, refreshed October 22, 2026; acres are each unit's full size, and units overlap, so they are not added up. Easements on private land are left out. Fires from NIFC; mining claims, leases and timber sales from BLM and Forest Service records; read October 26, 2026.
Who funds Coons on lands issues
PACs and other committees gave Coons's campaign $1,516,579 in the 2025-26 cycle. Across the 4 cycles on record, oil, gas, mining and timber PACs gave $38,000, and conservation PACs gave $6,550.
| Cycle | All PACs and committees | Oil and gas | Mining and coal | Timber | Conservation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | $2,045,594 | $14,000 | none | $5,000 | $4,500 |
| 2021-22 | $291,625 | $2,000 | none | none | none |
| 2023-24 | $528,359 | $2,000 | $2,500 | $5,000 | none |
| 2025-26 | $1,516,579 | $6,500 | $1,000 | none | $2,050 |
Itemized contributions from committees to the candidate (FEC S0DE00092), net of refunds, read October 26, 2026. Industry is the giving PAC's industry in the More Than Just Parks record. A contribution says who gave, not why anyone voted as they did.
How Coons compares
The median senator scores 5%. Coons scores 100% and ranks #1 (tied) of 98.
More from Delaware
Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester A · Rep. Sarah McBride A+
What to ask Coons
Washington office: 218 Russell Senate Office Building. Phone (202) 224-5042. Write to Coons · Official site
Every scored vote Coons cast went for public lands.
Offices and phones from the Senate and House member feeds and unitedstates/congress-legislators, checked October 22, 2026.
Questions people ask
How did Christopher Coons vote on One Big Beautiful Bill?
Christopher Coons voted Nay on One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1) on July 1, 2025. The Senate vote was 50 to 50, and the scorecard counts Nay as the vote for public lands.
Is Christopher Coons up for election in 2026?
Yes. Christopher Coons's Senate seat from Delaware is on the ballot in November 2026. Coons's grade on the 19 scored Senate votes so far is an A+.
What public lands are in Delaware?
6 federal land units lie in or reach into Delaware. The largest are Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge (15,385 acres), Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge (10,141 acres) and Dover Air Force Base (3,167 acres).