Thanks to VPM reporter Ben Paviour for the “heads up” on the American Conservative Union’s new ratings for members of Congress and state legislatures. Keep in mind that this is a very right-wing group, so the higher the score, the WORSE these people are, from a Democratic, progressive or “centrist” perspective. See below for ratings (click to enlarge) for Virginia’s State Senators, members of the House of Delegates and U.S. House delegation. A few highlights that jumped out at me include:
- Amanda Chase, who is running for governor, ranks as the most right-wing state senator, with a 91 score in 2020, up 15 points from 2019. This ranking of Chase is similar to VAPLAN’s 2020 scorecard, by the way.
- The *least* right-wing Republican State Senators are Sen. Jill Vogel (score: 46) and Sen. Emmett Hanger (score: 61). This is also similar to VAPLAN’s 2020 scorecard.
- The most conservative (aka, least progressive) Democratic State Senators are Sen. Lynwood Lewis (score: 19) and Sen. Chap Petersen (score: 18). Those are still pretty good scores, of course, and FAR less conservative than even Jill Vogel.
- The LEAST conservative (aka, most progressive) Democratic State Senators in this scorecard are Sen. Louise Lucas (score: 9), Sen. Mamie Locke (score: 9), Sen. John Edwards (score: 9), Sen. Dick Saslaw (score: 11), Sen. Jennifer McClellan (score: 11), Sen. Dave Marsden (score: 11), Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (score: 11), Sen Barbara Favola (score: 11), Sen. Adam Ebbin (score: 11), Sen. Creigh Deeds (score: 11), Sen. Jennifer Boysko (score: 11), and Sen. George Barker (score: 11). Those match up pretty well, but not exactly, with the VAPLAN 2020 scorecard.
- The most-far scores in the House of Delegates are mostly the Republicans you’d expect: seditionist Del. Mark Cole (score: 98), Del. Nick Freitas (score: 95), Del. Kathy Byron (score: 93), Del. Dave LaRock (score: 91), House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (score: 91), etc.
- Del. Kirk Cox, who is running for the VA GOP gubernatorial nomination, clocks in at an 82 score, which is VERY conservative, albeit not the most right wing…
- Del. Jason Miyares, who is running for the VA GOP attorney general nomination, gets a 73 score – again, very conservative, but not the most right wing…
- Del. Glenn Davis, who is running for the VA GOP Lt. Governor nomination, gets a 63 score, ranking him as the *least* right-wing Republican in the Virginia House of Delegates. And that, in a nutshell, is why he probably won’t win the nomination on Saturday…
- Surprisingly, the highest conservative score among Democratic delegates is Del. Lee Carter, a self-described socialist and a Democratic candidate for governor, who gets a 21 (still a VERY low conservative score, of course). Also a bit surprising is Del. Ibraheem Samirah scoring as the second-most-conservative Democratic delegate, albeit still overwhelmingly progressive, with a 19 score.
- Del. Hala Ayala, who is running for the Democrats’ Lt. Governor nomination, gets a score of 5, which is very much NOT conservative!
- Del. Mark Levine, who is also running for the Democrats’ Lt. Governor nomination, gets a score of 7, again very much NOT conservative!
- Del. Sam Rasoul, who is also running for the Democrats’ Lt. Governor nomination, gets a score of 12, again very much NOT conservative!
- Del. Jay Jones, who is running for the Democrats’ Attorney General nomination, gets a score of 9, again very much NOT conservative!
- Del. Jennifer Carrol Foy, who is running for the Democrats’ gubernatorial nomination, gets a score of 5, which is obviously NOT conservative!
- For members of the U.S. House, the Republican seditionists (Rep. Rob Wittman, Rep. Ben Cline and Rep. Morgan Griffith) all score as VERY right wing (all in the 80s), as you’d expect. The Democrats range from a score of 14 (Rep. Elaine Luria) down to zeroes for Reps. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA10 and Gerry Connolly (D-VA11).
- What else jumps out at you?
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