Gillibrand vs McHugh

Why does a Democratic freshman congressperson have a higher power ranking than a Republican congressman who has served for 15 years? Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20) is ranked 255 in the House of Representative while Rep. John McHugh (NY-23) is ranked 347. Part of this can be explained that Democrats took over the House in 2006. If that is the explanation, however, it makes even more sense to get rid of John McHugh and vote Mike Oot into power. If bringing home the bacon is important, Rep. Gillibrand, in her first term, brought home significantly more bacon ($23.8 million) to the 20th district than did John McHugh to the 23rd ($18.9 million). Democrats are going to be in the majority for the next session of Congress and it will pay to have a Democrat congressman in the 23rd District.