Revisiting Democratic Voting Records 6 Months Into The Term

There are only 5 freshmen with perfect voting records-- here are 3 of them

In March we decided to take a first look at how the new House members were getting started in the voting department. At the time, 24 freshmen still had 100% perfect scores-- and only 23 had "F" ratings. Today 11 freshmen are still graded "A" and just 5 have perfect scores and-- tragically-- there are now 42 with "F"s-- 42!

Thursday, just before they went home, the House voted on HR 582, Bobby Scott's Raise the Wage Act, which would-- if McConnell allowed it to be voted on it the Senate and Trump signed it-- gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. McConnell won't and Trump will never have to decide whether or not to-- but the House vote is valuable for our purposes. It was the last voted included in the scores and ratings we're about to look over. The Republicans tried killing the bill with a Motion to Recommit, which was barely defeated, 218-210 How did that happened! Easy! 14 Democrats voted with the Republican zombies to kill the bill. These were the 14, basically, all Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party:

• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Alcee Hastings (Corrupt-FL)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Elisse Slotkin (New Dem-MI)
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)
• Jefferson Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Susan Wild (New Dem-PA)

Add to that Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM) who then voted against the bill itself and you have a good list of garbage Democrats. Except for Alcee Hastings, who is graded "B" by ProgressivePunch, everyone else who voted so badly on Thursday earned an "F" since January. None of them had "A" grades in March but most of them have gone down, down, down since then.

First off, the 24 freshmen with perfect scores have now, as I said above, been whittled down to just 5:

• Andy Levin (D-MI) D+4
• Joe Neguse (D-CO) D+9
• AOC (D-NY) D+29
• Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) D+33
• Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) D+34

Michigan wins! Actually... Andy Levin wins, in one way. He may not be as famous as members of The Squad but he's the only freshman-- the only member of Congress in fact-- with a perfect score who represents as difficult a district electorally. The five above are arranged from least blue to most blue districts (according to PVI scores). There are also 11 non-freshmen members with perfect 100% scores so far this cycle, also listed here from less blue to most blue districts:

• Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) D+9
• Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) D+13
• Grace Meng (D-NY) D+16
• Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) D+18
• Mark Pocan (D-WI) D+18
• Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) D+21
• Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) D+27
• Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) D+33
• Yvette Clarke (D-NY) D+34
• Nanette Barragán (D-CA) D+35
• Barbara Lee (D-CA) D+40

Technically one anti-progressive is on this list too, Nancy Pelosi. But as Speaker, she cherry-picks the votes she wants to take and skips any tough vote she wants to, making her score is completely meaningless. So what about the worst Democrats this cycle-- what you would call the Democraps, the Republican wing of the Democratic Party? Ladies and gentlemen... the garbage of the cycle, so far, starting with 3 freshmen tied for last place-- a total of the 15 worst Democrats in Congress, each voting less than half the time for progressive initiatives (with raw scores... and arranged from reddest to least red district):

• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- 30.0% R+13
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- 35.0% R+12
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)- 20.0% R+10
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)- 30% R+10
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)- 37.5% R+6
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)- 37.5% R+6
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)- 20.0% R+6
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)- 35.0% R+3
• Conor Lamb (D-PA)- 40.0% R+3
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)- 25.0% R+3
• Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)- 42.5% R+4
• Jared Golden (D-ME)- 32.5% R+2
• Angie Craig (New Dem-MN)- 42.5 R+2
• Jefferson Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)- 20.0% R+1
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)- 37.5% R+1

No one "decides" on ratings. It's done by a ProgressivePunch algorithm which uses the votes of a panel of 33 proven progressives to come up with progressive scores by taking ANY VOTE in which a majority of those 33 members voted in opposition to a majority of the Republican caucus; that vote then qualifies for the database. Now that Democrats have taken back control of the House, ProgressivePunch classifies as Crucial any vote in which the progressive side was on the losing side, in addition to all close votes as defined above. "Crucial" votes are votes in which there was strong progressive cohesion and at the same time a significant defection on the part of more conservative Democrats to the Republicans. It's important to remember that raw scores aren't the be-all and end-all to judging a member. The scores do not take into account anything other than votes. It doesn't matter, for example, that Pramila Jayapal wrote and introduced the new Medicare For All Act or that some people co-sponsored it and others didn't. Nor are examples of leadership, courageousness, Twitter abilities or any other non-vote factors part of the scores. Let's take Katie Porter. Her crucial vote score is pretty awful but her spectacular work on the House Financial Services Committee means way more than that in the real world. On top of that, she's in a Republican-leaning district-- PVI is R+3-- and is a top 5 NRCC target for 2020 and still came out for impeachment while dozens of members in safe blue districts still haven't. So... don't over-emphasize the scores out of context. Meanwhile, though, people often ask me if I advocate wiping out the Blue Dogs. The answer is yes-- AND, see that thermometer above... that will take you to a list of vetted progressives-- not better of two evils candidates-- who are running against genuinely terrible conservative Democrats in primary races. Please consider contributing.