The Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) gave Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a “conservative rating” of just 56%, about on par with Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney and just ahead of former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who received a score of 54%.
Both Romney and Cheney are frequent targets of the right, sometimes derided as RINOs, or “Republicans in Name Only.” McConnell finds himself far behind Republicans such as Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, and McConnell’s fellow Kentuckian Rand Paul, all of whom were rated at 100%. Fourteen of House Republicans also received a score of 100%, including Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Jim Jordan of Ohio.
“Getting beyond what a politician says and looking at how they vote is a needed form of transparency,” CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp said in a statement.
“Conservatives are the leaders intellectually and organizationally in the push back against Big corporations, Big tech, Big Media, Big Unions and academia, and our ratings help separate the big talkers from the truly courageous,” he said.
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According to CPAC, the report was generated by an exhaustive compilation of over 20,000 votes cast by all 535 members of Congress across the full spectrum of policy issues.
“To produce this year’s scorecard, CPAC’s Center for Legislative Accountability analyzed every vote taken last session and selected a wide array of issues relating to fiscal, tax, regulatory, education, environment, Second Amendment rights, election security, life, and government integrity,” the report stated. “All lawmakers in America at the federal and state levels are scored on a 100-point scale.”
Among the other top-scoring senators are Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Rick Scott, R-Fla., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., with scores above 90%
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., scored 82%.
McConnell’s 56% rating is the lowest he’s received from the group in his 38 years in Congress.
“Congress became even more polarized during President Biden’s second year in office, with Democrats only voting with the conservative position an average of 2% of the time, based on the CPAC’s analysis,” the group said in a press release Monday.
“In total, Congress votes with the conservative position just 40% of the time,” they said.
McConnell could not immediately be reached for comment.