The American Conservative Union, one of the nation’s oldest and most influential conservative advocacy organizations, released their scorecards for 2016 this week, and Georgia Republicans fared well.
The grades, given on a 0-100 scale, indicate how closely each Congressman and Senator voted along ACU lines, a strong indicator of how conservative their voting record for the year was. These legislative ratings are considered to be a gold standard of conservatism by right leaning leaders across the country and serve as a barometer for where legislators stand on the political spectrum.
Republicans who score too low may find themselves under fire from the ACU and other right wing groups, and if primaried from the right could face the big money of the ACU and its allies.
Congressmen Tom Price, Barry Loudermilk, and Jody Hice carried the banner of conservatism in 2016, each scoring a 96. Georgia’s other Republicans weren’t far behind, with only one, Rob Woodall, scoring below a 90, (he came in at 89.13). Senator and close Trump ally David Perdue scored a 92, while Johnny Isakson in his final term dropped down to a 65, perhaps softening on some of his stances as he knows his votes can’t come back to haunt him in the form of a primary challenger.
Georgia’s Democrats predictably were on the other end of the spectrum, with John Lewis tallying an impressive 0 for the second straight year. Hank Johnson joined him with that ‘perfect’ score, while David Scott and Sanford Bishop were near misses at 4.
See the full scores HERE.
