Tennessee Republicans’ Club for Growth ratings fall

Tennessee lawmakers didn’t fare very well in the Club for Growth’s ratings for 2020. The average House GOP scores were 45% in 2020, down from 67% the previous year. The ratings for Senate Republicans decreased from 64% to 43%.
The group’s ratings docked lawmakers for supporting legislation to tighten requirements for online vendors to collect Tennessee sales taxes from those doing at least $500,000 worth of annual business in the state to $100,000. Economists have cited the new threshold as a major reason for the state’s strong sales tax revenues while shoppers avoided brick-and-mortar stores during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are the ratings:
House Member | Chamber | Party | 2020 | Lifetime | Rating in chamber |
Lafferty | House | R | 69 | 68 | 1 |
Holt | House | R | 61 | 71 | 2 |
Ogles | House | R | 58 | 66 | 3 |
Doggett | House | R | 56 | 65 | 4 |
J. Sexton | House | R | 56 | 67 | 4 |
Rudd | House | R | 55 | 70 | 6 |
Windle | House | D | 54 | 59 | 7 |
Lundberg | Senate | R | 54 | 64 | 1 |
Travis | House | R | 53 | 54 | 8 |
Van Huss | House | R | 53 | 60 | 8 |
Bowling | Senate | R | 52 | 60 | 2 |
Littleton | House | R | 51 | 63 | 10 |
Sparks | House | R | 49 | 62 | 11 |
Crawford | House | R | 49 | 66 | 11 |
Moody | House | R | 49 | 69 | 11 |
Grills | House | R | 49 | 49 | 11 |
Bell | Senate | R | 49 | 64 | 3 |
Calfee | House | R | 47 | 50 | 15 |
Byrd | House | R | 47 | 56 | 15 |
Griffey | House | R | 47 | 51 | 15 |
Hall | House | R | 47 | 60 | 15 |
Leatherwood | House | R | 47 | 61 | 15 |
M. Hill | House | R | 46 | 62 | 20 |
Howell | House | R | 46 | 57 | 20 |
Hulsey | House | R | 46 | 63 | 20 |
Cochran | House | R | 46 | 52 | 20 |
Haston | House | R | 46 | 51 | 20 |
Weaver | House | R | 46 | 56 | 20 |
Keisling | House | R | 45 | 53 | 26 |
Reedy | House | R | 45 | 55 | 26 |
Sherrell | House | R | 45 | 60 | 26 |
Cepicky | House | R | 45 | 60 | 26 |
Eldridge | House | R | 45 | 53 | 26 |
Watson | Senate | R | 45 | 56 | 4 |
Yager | Senate | R | 45 | 51 | 4 |
Gresham | Senate | R | 45 | 53 | 4 |
Whitson | House | R | 44 | 48 | 31 |
Baum | House | R | 44 | 53 | 31 |
Chism | House | D | 44 | 38 | 31 |
Hurt | House | R | 44 | 59 | 31 |
Rudder | House | R | 44 | 52 | 31 |
Todd | House | R | 44 | 54 | 31 |
C. Johnson | House | R | 44 | 56 | 31 |
Daniel | House | R | 44 | 57 | 31 |
DeBerry | House | D | 44 | 56 | 31 |
Stevens | Senate | R | 44 | 56 | 7 |
White | Senate | R | 44 | 56 | 7 |
Southerland | Senate | R | 44 | 50 | 7 |
Gardenhire | Senate | R | 44 | 44 | 7 |
Kelsey | Senate | R | 44 | 56 | 7 |
Ragan | House | R | 43 | 55 | 40 |
D. Powers | House | R | 43 | 60 | 40 |
Lamberth | House | R | 43 | 55 | 40 |
Boyd | House | R | 43 | 55 | 40 |
C. Sexton | House | R | 43 | 50 | 40 |
Roberts | Senate | R | 43 | 57 | 12 |
Hensley | Senate | R | 43 | 58 | 12 |
Holsclaw | House | R | 42 | 43 | 45 |
Zachary | House | R | 42 | 59 | 45 |
Tillis | House | R | 42 | 51 | 45 |
Moon | House | R | 42 | 55 | 45 |
Vaughan | House | R | 42 | 43 | 45 |
Garrett | House | R | 42 | 55 | 45 |
Bricken | House | R | 42 | 50 | 45 |
Helton | House | R | 42 | 55 | 45 |
Wright | House | R | 42 | 59 | 45 |
Smith | House | R | 42 | 55 | 45 |
White | House | R | 42 | 53 | 45 |
Faison | House | R | 42 | 53 | 45 |
Dunn | House | R | 42 | 59 | 45 |
Gant | House | R | 42 | 50 | 45 |
Hazlewood | House | R | 42 | 55 | 45 |
Halford | House | R | 42 | 48 | 45 |
Hicks | House | R | 42 | 48 | 45 |
T. Hill | House | R | 42 | 69 | 45 |
Hawk | House | R | 42 | 46 | 45 |
Marsh | House | R | 42 | 54 | 45 |
Haile | Senate | R | 42 | 60 | 14 |
Bailey | Senate | R | 42 | 47 | 14 |
Briggs | Senate | R | 42 | 44 | 14 |
Jackson | Senate | R | 42 | 55 | 14 |
Reeves | Senate | R | 42 | 57 | 14 |
Rose | Senate | R | 42 | 54 | 14 |
B. Powers | Senate | R | 42 | 47 | 14 |
Niceley | Senate | R | 42 | 50 | 14 |
McNally | Senate | R | 42 | 55 | 14 |
Massey | Senate | R | 42 | 50 | 14 |
J. Johnson | Senate | R | 42 | 55 | 14 |
Curcio | House | R | 40 | 54 | 65 |
Potts | House | D | 40 | 43 | 65 |
Carr | House | R | 40 | 47 | 65 |
Lynn | House | R | 40 | 60 | 65 |
Carter | House | R | 39 | 55 | 69 |
Kumar | House | R | 38 | 53 | 70 |
Farmer | House | R | 38 | 52 | 70 |
Ramsey | House | R | 38 | 43 | 70 |
Williams | House | R | 38 | 47 | 70 |
Russell | House | R | 37 | 52 | 74 |
Crowe | Senate | R | 37 | 53 | 25 |
Stewart | House | D | 36 | 26 | 75 |
Lamar | House | D | 35 | 29 | 76 |
Shaw | House | D | 35 | 43 | 76 |
Miller | House | D | 35 | 37 | 76 |
Coley | House | R | 35 | 44 | 76 |
Freeman | House | D | 34 | 33 | 80 |
Pody | Senate | R | 34 | 53 | 26 |
Staples | House | D | 33 | 29 | 81 |
Hardaway | House | D | 33 | 31 | 81 |
Towns | House | D | 32 | 34 | 83 |
Jernigan | House | D | 32 | 36 | 83 |
Mitchell | House | D | 31 | 33 | 85 |
Casada | House | R | 30 | 47 | 86 |
Parkinson | House | D | 30 | 32 | 86 |
Dickerson | Senate | R | 30 | 41 | 27 |
Clemmons | House | D | 29 | 29 | 88 |
Powell | House | D | 27 | 29 | 89 |
Thompson | House | D | 27 | 27 | 89 |
Dixie | House | D | 26 | 23 | 91 |
Hodges | House | D | 24 | 32 | 92 |
Love | House | D | 23 | 28 | 93 |
Sara Kyle | Senate | D | 23 | 33 | 28 |
Hakeem | House | D | 22 | 31 | 94 |
Beck | House | D | 22 | 22 | 94 |
G. Johnson | House | D | 21 | 19 | 96 |
Yarbro | Senate | D | 20 | 30 | 29 |
Robinson | Senate | D | 18 | 26 | 30 |
Gilmore | Senate | D | 15 | 27 | 31 |
Akbari | Senate | D | 13 | 25 | 32 |
Camper | House | D | n.a. | 35 | n.a. |
Cooper | House | D | n.a. | 32 | n.a. |
Terry | House | R | n.a. | 89 | n.a. |
Swann | Senate | R | n.a. | 57 | n.a. |
And here is the release from the Club for Growth:
The Club for Growth today announced that no Tennessee state legislators scored high enough to be a “Defender of Economic Freedom” on the new Club for Growth Foundation’s 2020 Tennessee State Economic Scorecard.
Elected officials who, on the Foundation’s scorecard, score 90% or better in a given calendar year and maintain lifetime scores of 90% or better are recognized by the Club for Growth as Defenders of Economic Freedom.
“The Foundation’s Congressional Scorecard is already the gold-standard in publishing the voting records of Senators and Members of the U.S. House of Representatives on economic legislation, and the State Economic Scorecards help educate citizens about which elected officials are champions of pro-growth policies at the state level.” said Club for Growth President David McIntosh. “Tennessee is widely considered a ‘one-party’ state, but people would be mistaken if they thought the ‘one party’ was the conservative, limited government GOP. Instead, the Republicans in Nashville have been advancing big government, anti-growth policies over the last several months. Unfortunately, these 2020 ratings are even worse than what our 2019 scorecard revealed last year. This downward trend is not good for taxpayers.”
Key Takeaways on the 2020 Scorecard:
– Average Republican Score: 43% (down from 64% in 2019)
– Average Democrat Score: 18% (down from 37% in 2019)
– Highest Rated Republican: Sen. Jon Lundberg (SD-04), 54%
– Lowest Rated Republican: Sen. Steven Dickerson (SD-20), 30%
– Highest Rated Democrat: Sen. Sara Kyle (SD-30), 23%
– Lowest Rated Democrat: Sen. Raumesh Akbari (SD-29), 8%
– Average Republican Score: 45% (down from 67% in 2019)
– Average Democrat Score: 32% (down from 34% in 2019)
– Highest Rated Republican: Rep. Justin Lafferty (HD-89), 69%
– Lowest Rated Republican: Rep. Glen Casada (HD-63), 30%
– Highest Rated Democrats: Rep. John Windle (HD-41), 54%
– Lowest Rated Democrat: Rep. Gloria Johnson (HD-13), 21%
The Club for Growth Foundation’s Tennessee economic scorecard is similar to scorecards that the Foundation previously has released for Florida, Virginia, Missouri, New Mexico, Iowa, and Texas as part of its new state legislative vote study initiative. The Club for Growth Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization focused on educating the public about the value of free markets, pro-growth policies, and economic prosperity.
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