CLUB FOR GROWTH ANNOUNCES NEW HAMPSHIRE DEFENDER OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM AWARDS AND NEW MISSED VOTES SCORECARD
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Club for Growth today announced its Defender of Economic Freedom awards for New Hampshire state legislators — 98 House members and 0 Senators — whose voting records distinguished them as champions of economic liberty for their high score on the new Club for Growth Foundation’s 2020 New Hampshire State Economic Votes Scorecard. In addition, the Club for Growth Foundation released its new Missed Votes Scorecard for New Hampshire, which sheds light on which state legislators are doing their jobs by voting and which ones are not.
The Club for Growth recognizes elected officials who, on the Foundation’s scorecard, score 90% or better in a given calendar year and maintain lifetime scores of 90% or better as Defenders of Economic Freedom. Of the 98 New Hampshire house members who received the award, 77 received a perfect score of 100%.
“New Hampshire has an impressive number of lawmakers who are dedicated to promoting economic freedom. Unfortunately, they are still outnumbered by those who want to grow government at the expense of taxpayers. Many Republican members have been more than willing to vote for legislation that increases the scope of government and harms small businesses,” said Club for Growth President David McIntosh.
“With the legislature now in Republican hands in 2021, we hope that legislative leaders will take a cue from these liberty-minded lawmakers and enact pro-growth policies. The Foundation also compiled statistics on how many votes each member of the legislature missed in 2020. While the state senators rarely missed any votes, some in the state house were not as dedicated to showing up for every vote. The people of New Hampshire get to decide whether these members had valid reasons for not voting and hold those accountable who don’t.”
Key Takeaways on New Hampshire’s 2020 Economic Scorecard:
New Hampshire Senate
- Average Republican Score: 66%
- Average Democrat Score: 1%
- Highest-Rated Republican: Multiple with 68%
- Highest-Rated Democrat: Sen. Jeanne Dietsch (SD-09) – 7%
- Lowest-Rated Republican: Sen. Sharon Carson (SD-14) – 52%
- Lowest-Rated Democrat: Multiple with 0%
New Hampshire House
- Average Republican Score: 94%
- Average Democrat Score: 2%
- Highest-Rated Republican: Multiple with 100%
- Highest-Rated Democrat: Rep. Barbara Shaw (Hillsborough 16) – 28%
- Lowest-Rated Republican: Rep. Dan Wolf (Merrimack 5) – 29%
- Lowest-Rated Democrat: Multiple with 0%
New Hampshire Missed Votes Scorecard
The Club for Growth Foundation also released its new Missed Votes Scorecard for New Hampshire’s 2020 legislative session. This scorecard simply calculates how often lawmakers show up to vote and how often they miss votes. For 2020, the results were:
New Hampshire Senate
The average New Hampshire state senator missed less than 1% of the total 106 floor votes. In fact, 21 of the 24 state senators didn’t miss a single vote.
New Hampshire House
The average New Hampshire house member missed 17% of the total 188 floor votes. Rep. John Fothergill (Coos 1) missed the most votes – 188 out of 188 – for a score of 100%. By not missing a single vote, 55 house members received perfect attendance scores of 0%.
NOTE: Lawmakers miss votes for a whole host of reasons, including medical issues, family concerns, or prior commitments. But they may also miss votes because they are purposely ducking an issue or do not want to upset leadership. The Club for Growth Foundation makes no judgment on why a lawmaker misses votes. The Foundation simply publishes this quantified information for educational purposes only.