CPAC Releases Ranking of Most Conservative Members of Congress
WASHINGTON — The Conservative Political Action Conference, also known as CPAC, on Monday released its annual ranking of members of the House and Senate based on their conservative bona fides or lack thereof.
To produce this year’s scorecard, the CPAC foundation’s Center for Legislative Accountability analyzed every vote taken during the last session of Congress, looking particularly at those related to such issues as fiscal matters, taxation, regulation, education, Second Amendment rights and election security, among others.
In all, CPAC said, more than 35,000 votes cast by all 535 members of Congress were evaluated before each lawmaker was scored on a 100-point scale.
The most conservative lawmakers, meaning those who score a “conservative rating” of 90% or more, received CPA’s Award for Conservative Excellence.
In the Senate the top 10 recipients were:
Mike Lee, R-Utah, who garnered a 100% rating.
Mike Braun, R-Ind.
Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.
Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.
JD Vance, R-Ohio.
Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and
Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo..
In the House the top 15 conservative achievers, all of whom garnered a 100% rating, were:
Dan Bishop, R-N.C.
Josh Brecheen, R-Okla.
Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.
Eric Burlison, R-Mo.
Ben Cline, R-Va.
Michael Cloud, R-Texas.
Elijah Crane, R-Ariz.
Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.
Bob Good, R-Va.
Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.
Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo.
Jim Jordan, R-Ohio,
Scott Perry, R-Pa.
Chip Roy, R-Texas.
Gregory Steube, R-Fla.
“Freed from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, conservatives finally received the chance to promote and vote on a wide array of amendments. The incredible diversity of issues touched on by these amendments has helped differentiate establishment Republicanism from the true constitutional conservatives more than ever,” said CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp, in a written statement..
Among the lowest scoring Republican members of the U.S. Senate were Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who came in with a 68% score; Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who got 59%; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, 55% and Susan Collins, R-Maine, 54%.
CPAC also took issue with the term “moderate” being applied to certain high profile Democrats.
It noted that according to its criteria, Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va. (30%), Jon Tester, D-Mont. (15%) and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. (12%) were all decidedly partisan, and not in a way of which the organization approved.
Overall, CPAC said, its ranking illustrated that Congress became even more polarized during President Biden’s third year in office.
It said it found Democrats voted with the conservative position an average of 2% of the time, demonstrating a level of cohesion not found among Republicans, the likes of whom averaged 80%.
In total, it said, Congress votes with the conservative position just 41% of the time.
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