Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) obtained a “conservative rating” of 68% from the Conservative Political Action Coalition, which is higher than Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who scored 54%, and almost equal with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Although McConnell’s rating from CPAC is 12% better than it was the previous year (56%), the Senate GOP leader still lags well below other Republicans at the conference, such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Mike Lee (R-UT). The only Republican senator to get a perfect score was Lee.
The vice chairwoman of the Senate Republican Conference, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), had the lowest score among the members of the Republican leadership. The senator from West Virginia scored 66%. The other Republican senators with the lowest scores were Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Thom Tillis (R-NC), who received 65%, 59%, and 55%, respectively. Collins’s rating of 38% last year was far lower than her score this year.
The announcement that the Senate minority leader would be leaving his position as the upper chamber’s Republican leader in November occurred about two months prior to the presentation of this year’s results. Most people agree that the senator from Kentucky was instrumental in securing a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, and the decisions made by the justices he supported will have long-term effects on the legal landscape. The Washington Examiner requested a statement from McConnell’s office.
But in recent months, there has been a growing strain among Senate Republicans due to McConnell’s unwavering backing of Ukraine and the failed foreign assistance and border security package, which led to GOP senators criticizing leadership for being “out of touch” with conservative constituents.
CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp stated in a statement, “The extraordinary array of subjects touched on by these amendments has helped distance establishment Republicanism from the actual constitutional conservatives more than ever.” “Republicans usually fail to have any meaningful beneficial influence on the overall state of things in Congress, despite having a majority in the House and more opportunity to vote on important issues.”
Representatives Dan Bishop (R-NC), Greg Steube (R-FL), and Jim Jordan (R-OH) were among the fifteen House Republicans who scored perfectly. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) received a 91%.
The Washington Examiner received a 74-page report card that rates House and Senate members based on their votes on a number of issues that are important to conservative voters. The 53rd report from the organization boosted the number of votes scored due to increased action on Republican initiatives.
A compilation of all the votes cast in the last Congress session on a wide range of subjects, including economic affairs, taxes, regulations, education, the environment, Second Amendment rights, election security, life, and government integrity, produced the study, according to CPAC.
