What Is a Congressional Scorecard?
A congressional scorecard (also called a "rating" or "grade") is a numerical score assigned to a legislator based on how they voted on a curated set of bills and amendments. Organizations across the political spectrum publish them annually — conservatives, progressives, environmentalists, gun rights advocates, and more.
Scorecards serve different purposes: donors use them to evaluate giving priorities, advocacy groups use them to mobilize members, and voters use them to quickly assess alignment. They are inherently perspective-driven — each organization selects votes that reflect its own policy priorities, so a 100% rating from one group and a 0% from another tells you as much about the organizations as it does about the legislator.
How to read a score: Most scorecards are expressed as a 0–100 percentage. A score of 100 means the legislator voted with that organization on every tracked vote. A score of 0 means they never did. Scores near 50 often indicate a moderate or split-ticket approach to that issue set. Always check the methodology — some organizations track only 5–10 votes per year; others track 30 or more.
Who Scores Congress and Why It Matters
The oldest continuous congressional rating system, published annually since 1971. The ACU selects 20–25 votes per chamber per year covering fiscal policy, social issues, national security, and regulatory reform. A score of 80+ is generally considered a "true conservative." Members with lifetime ACU scores above 90 earn the "Award for Conservative Excellence."
View ACU Federal RatingsThe activist arm of The Heritage Foundation. Heritage Action tracks a broader set of votes — typically 30–50 per year — covering procedural votes, amendments, and final passage. It also penalizes members for missed votes and for supporting "key liberal priorities." Widely used by Tea Party and MAGA-aligned donors.
View Heritage Action ScorecardThe LCV has tracked environmental voting records since 1970. Their scorecard covers climate, clean energy, public lands, clean water, and species protection votes. Scores above 70 earn the "LCV Environmental Champion" designation. Members who score 0–10 are named to the LCV's "Dirty Dozen" campaign targets.
View LCV Environmental ScorecardFreedomWorks emphasizes limited government, free markets, and individual liberty. It often diverges from the ACU on defense spending and foreign interventionism. Members who score high with FreedomWorks but low with ACU typically hold libertarian rather than traditional conservative positions.
View FreedomWorks ScorecardOne of the oldest liberal ratings systems, published since 1947. The ADA selects 20 key votes per year spanning labor, civil rights, healthcare, and economic equity. A score above 80 is considered strongly progressive. The ADA score is frequently used in academic political science research as a standard ideology measure.
View ADA Voting RecordsGovTrack uses a nonpartisan algorithm to place members on a left-right ideological spectrum based on bill cosponsorship patterns — not curated vote lists. It also tracks leadership scores (how often a member's sponsored bills advance). An important methodological note: cosponsorship patterns do not always match floor-vote ideology.
View GovTrack ScoresNotable Members — Multi-Organization Ratings
| Member | Party/State | Chamber | ACU | Heritage Action | LCV | ADA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mike Johnson Speaker of the House |
R–LA | House | 96 | 94 | 2 | 0 |
Tom Cotton Senator since 2015 |
R–AR | Senate | 97 | 92 | 3 | 0 |
Ted Cruz Senator since 2013 |
R–TX | Senate | 99 | 96 | 0 | 0 |
Marjorie Taylor Greene Rep. since 2021 |
R–GA | House | 93 | 91 | 0 | 0 |
Rand Paul Senator since 2011 |
R–KY | Senate | 87 | 88 | 8 | 5 |
Susan Collins Senator since 1997 |
R–ME | Senate | 54 | 48 | 62 | 30 |
Lisa Murkowski Senator since 2002 |
R–AK | Senate | 59 | 52 | 57 | 25 |
Don Bacon Rep. since 2017 |
R–NE | House | 68 | 65 | 41 | 15 |
Bernie Sanders Senator since 2007 (I-VT) |
I–VT | Senate | 2 | 4 | 93 | 100 |
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Rep. since 2019 |
D–NY | House | 1 | 3 | 97 | 100 |
Elizabeth Warren Senator since 2013 |
D–MA | Senate | 3 | 5 | 96 | 100 |
Chuck Schumer Senate Minority Leader |
D–NY | Senate | 4 | 6 | 95 | 100 |
Joe Manchin Former Senator, now Governor of WV (I-WV as of 2025) |
I–WV | Senate | 46 | 42 | 53 | 42 |
Jared Golden Rep. since 2019 |
D–ME | House | 38 | 35 | 68 | 45 |
Henry Cuellar Rep. since 2005 |
D–TX | House | 29 | 27 | 71 | 50 |
John Thune Senate Majority Leader |
R–SD | Senate | 88 | 82 | 6 | 0 |
Primary Sources & Methodology Notes
- ACU Ratings: acuratings.conservative.org — Annual ratings published since 1971. Based on 20–25 key votes per chamber. Methodology available at conservative.org.
- Heritage Action Scorecard: heritageaction.com/scorecard — Updated throughout session. Tracks 30–50 votes including procedural motions. Penalizes missed votes.
- LCV Environmental Scorecard: scorecard.lcv.org — Published annually since 1970. 2024 scorecard includes 14 House and 12 Senate votes on climate, clean water, and public lands.
- ADA Trust Score: adaction.org/voting-records — Published since 1947. Selects 20 key votes annually on economic equity, civil rights, and social issues.
- FreedomWorks Scorecard: freedomworks.org — Libertarian-leaning free-market ratings. Differentiates from ACU by weighting foreign policy and fiscal hawks more heavily.
- GovTrack Ideology Score: govtrack.us/congress/members — Algorithmic score based on cosponsorship patterns, not curated vote lists. Updated continuously.
- All member scores are based on the most recently available published data. Some 2025 annual ratings may not yet be published. Verify current scores at each organization's website.
- For article-level scorecard deep dives, see our Murkowski Scorecard Analysis.