Black skips more House votes than the rest of Tennessee’s U.S. House delegation combined

U.S. Rep. Diane Black, who is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, has missed 29 of the 101 votes taken on the House floor so far this year – more than any other member of the Tennessee congressional delegation, reports The Tennessean. Runner-up in missed votes – 11 — is Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

The seven other members of the state’s U.S. House delegation have cumulatively missed just 12 votes this year.

The article by Joel Ebert leads by noting that Black’s gubernatorial campaign has been running a TV ad declaring she is “determined to stop” human trafficking using “every law on the book.” But, a week before the ad was release, Black was one of 17 members of Congress to not vote on a bill that would allow state attorneys general and victims to sue websites that help facilitate sex trafficking.

On Feb. 27, the House voted 388-25 in favor of the measure. When the chamber approved the bill around 6 p.m., Black was nowhere to be found: That day she was back home in Tennessee, appearing at a National Religious Broadcasters meeting in Nashville, alongside Vice President Mike Pence.

…In a statement, Chris Hartline, Black’s campaign spokesman, said, “At times, rather than be in D.C. to vote to approve the journal or rename a post office, she has chosen to be in Tennessee talking to voters about her conservative vision for Tennessee’s future and how she will fight to protect Tennessee values.”

Hartline pointed out that nine of Black’s missed votes came the day she was in Nashville with Pence. But on at least a few occasions, Black did not vote on a bill because she was in Tennessee for events related to her campaign.

… Last month, Black asserted that she was continuing to do her job while campaigning.

After a Feb. 23 gubernatorial forum in Williamson County, Black defended her decision to skip previous candidate forums, saying, “Unlike some of the others, I am still working in Congress and doing my job.”