One year ago the Republicans won a landslide election sending 12 new members to the U.S. Senate and sending 44 new members to the U.S. House. The 12 new senators put the Republicans in the majority in the U.S. Senate, and the 44 new Representatives gave the Republicans their largest majority in the U.S. House since the 1920’s.
It’s bittersweet to look at things presently and see that the Republican establishment in DC completely ignored the promises made in the campaigns. Their cowardly instincts were to surrender first to Obama and the Democrats, and then play fight to fool all those rube voters who elected them to think they were still fighting for them.
One good thing that happened is enough of these new members joined with many current members to get John Boehner to vacate as Speaker and his lieutenant, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to not run for Speaker. The establishment and media tried to paint a narrative of them as reckless rabble rousers bent on dethroning the speaker, a genial deal-maker willing to work across the aisle. This is a false narrative. This was actually a revolt of backbenchers who called for restoration of regular order instead of dictates from the Speaker’s office. This is nothing new. Over the years, there have been similar insurrections by junior members who simply want to be players.
The tables below are the Conservative Review Liberty Scores for these new Senators and Representatives. There are 25 who scored an F, and 31 who scored a passing grade. The score for the senators is based on 8 key votes, and the score for representatives is based on 9 key votes.
The 12 Senators Liberty Scores
| State | Member | CR Grade |
| NE | Ben Sasse | 88% |
| AR | Tom Cotton | 75% |
| OK | James Lankford | 75% |
| GA | David Perdue | 75% |
| MT | Steve Daines | 62% |
| LA | Bill Cassidy | 62% |
| AK | Dan Sullivan | 62% |
| IA | Joni Ernst | 62% |
| CO | Cory Gardner | 38% |
| NC | Thom Tillis | 38% |
| SD | Mike Rounds | 25% |
| WV | Shelley Capito | 25% |
The 44 Representatives Liberty Scores
| State/Dist. | Member | CR Grade |
| AL-6 | Rep. Gary Palmer | 100% |
| VA-7 | Rep. David Brat | 100% |
| CO-4 | Rep. Ken Buck | 89% |
| IA-1 | Rep. Rod Blum | 89% |
| TX-4 | Rep. John Ratcliffe | 78% |
| GA-11 | Rep. Barry Loudermilk | 78% |
| WV-2 | Rep. Alex Mooney | 78% |
| NH-1 | Rep. Frank Guinta | 69% |
| GA-10 | Rep. Jody Hice | 67% |
| UT-4 | Rep. Mia Love | 67% |
| NC-6 | Rep. Mark Walker | 67% |
| GA-1 | Rep. Buddy Carter | 67% |
| WI-6 | Rep. Glenn Grothman | 67% |
| TX-36 | Rep. Brian Babin | 67% |
| GA-12 | Rep. Rick Allen | 67% |
| NC-7 | Rep. David Rouzer | 67% |
| AR-4 | Rep. Bruce Westerman | 67% |
| LA-6 | Rep. Garret Graves | 67% |
| AR-2 | Rep. French Hill | 67% |
| OK-5 | Rep. Steve Russell | 67% |
| LA-5 | Rep. Ralph Abraham | 67% |
| WV-3 | Rep. Evan Jenkins | 67% |
| NY-1 | Rep. Lee Zeldin | 67% |
| MN-6 | Rep. Tom Emmer | 56% |
| IA-3 | Rep. David Young | 56% |
| MI-4 | Rep. John Moolenaar | 56% |
| MI-8 | Rep. Mike Bishop | 44% |
| TX-23 | Rep. Will Hurd | 44% |
| CA-25 | Rep. Steve Knight | 44% |
| NV-4 | Rep. Cresent Hardy | 44% |
| MT-at large | Rep. Ryan Zinke | 44% |
| MI-11 | Rep. Dave Trott | 44% |
| NJ-3 | Rep. Tom MacArthur | 44% |
| WA-4 | Rep. Dan Newhouse | 38% |
| CA-45 | Rep. Mimi Walters | 33% |
| AZ-2 | Rep. Martha McSally | 33% |
| VA-10 | Rep. Barbara Comstock | 33% |
| ME-2 | Rep. Bruce Poliquin | 33% |
| IL-12 | Rep. Mike Bost | 33% |
| PA-6 | Rep. Ryan Costello | 33% |
| NY-24 | Rep. John Katko | 33% |
| NY-21 | Rep. Elise Stefanik | 33% |
| FL-26 | Rep. Carlos Curbelo | 33% |
| IL-10 | Rep. Bob Dold | 33% |
