Meet the most — and least — conservative Republicans in Congress last year

The Conservative Political Action Coalition, which hosts the annual CPAC conference featuring prominent conservative activists and elected officials, released new ratings Monday crowning Republicans who had the most conservative voting records in 2022.

The group said its annual scorecard offers a window of transparency into lawmakers’ broader conservative standing on issues Congress votes on throughout the year.

“As America is engaged in an internal struggle for her very survival, talk is cheap,” CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp said. “Conservatives are the leaders intellectually and organizationally in the push back against big corporations, big tech, big media, big unions and academia, and our ratings help separate the big talkers from the truly courageous.”

Topping the charts with 100% conservative ratings were three GOP senators and more than a dozen House Republicans:

- Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Mike Braun of Indiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

- Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jody Hice of Georgia, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Chip Roy and Michael Cloud of Texas, Debbie Lesko of Arizona, Bob Good of Virginia, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Mary Miller of Illinois, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Matt Rosendale of Montana and Greg Steube of Florida.

CPAC said its scoring is based on evaluating every vote taken by Congress in 2022.

Republicans with the lowest conservative ratings included those known for more moderate stances and working across the aisle with Democrats:

- Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers’ Caucus (24%)

- Former Rep. John Katko of New York (26%).

- Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois (29%).

- Former Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan (35%).

- Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Texas (37%).

- Sen. Susan Collins of Maine (38%).

- Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (43%).

- Rep. David Joyce of Ohio (47%).

- Former Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri (50%).

- Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio (52%).

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky received his lowest-ever score of 56%. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California scored 82%, up eight percentage points from 2021.

Democrats overall voted with the conservative position 2% of the time, according to CPAC’s analysis, while Congress overall voted with the conservative position 40% of the time.

CPAC scored the following Democrats as having the most conservative voting records:

- Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia (16%).

- Rep. Jared Golden of Maine (12%).

- Former Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida (12%).

- Sen. Jon Tester of Montana (9%).

- Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas (9%).

- Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona (7%).

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who left the Democratic Party in December to become an independent, scored 9%.