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:

Tennessee Senate

– 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%

Tennessee House

– 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.