WA Republicans in Congress continue to receive high marks in ‘Democracy Report Card’
May 29, 2021, 7:15 AM
Washington Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
In late April, a “Democracy Report Card” gave high marks to Washington Representatives Jaime Herrera-Beutler and Dan Newhouse for their votes to impeach then-President Donald Trump. An update to the report card published this week shows both lawmakers continuing to be graded highly for their subsequent votes in favor of a proposed Jan. 6 commission.
Rep. Herrera Beutler censured by Clark County GOP
Herrera-Beutler and Newhouse have frequently broken from party lines in recent months, having voted to certify the 2020 election, challenging doubts cast on last year’s election results, and pushing for the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol in early January.
Herrera-Beutler had also voted against the eventual removal of Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership post. Cheney has faced criticism from fellow Republicans for her frequent criticism of Trump.
The “Democracy Report Card” — compiled by a group known as the Republican Accountability Project — now grades GOP members of Congress on five total criteria:
- Whether they signed onto a Texas amicus brief in December, which has sought to have the U.S. Supreme Court invalidate a combined 62 electoral votes that went to President Joe Biden
- Whether they objected to the certification of the 2020 election results on Jan. 6
- Whether they frequently made public comments either challenging or casting doubt on the 2020 election results
- Whether they voted to impeach or convict then-President Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol
- Whether they voted in favor of the Jan. 6 commission
Herrera-Beutler garnered a perfect score based on those criteria, having met all five requirements.
Rep. Herrera Beutler in middle of impeachment trial turmoil
Newhouse met four of the five criteria, having signed on to the Texas amicus brief in December. At the time, he stated that his aim was to “defend our Constitution and instill confidence in our election system — not to overturn the election results.” While the first iteration of the report card initially assigned him an A-minus, his vote in favor of the Jan. 6 commission bumped his grade up to an A.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers received the lowest grade among Washington’s Republican representatives with an F, having signed on to the amicus brief, made several public statements in support of Trump’s election challenges, and having voted against impeachment and the Jan. 6 commission in the House. While she was credited by the report for not voting against certification, she had previously vowed to join her Republican colleagues in objecting to the 2020 election results before reversing course after the Jan. 6 riot.
Meanwhile, the fate of the Jan. 6 commission remains in limbo, after Senate Republicans successfully prevented it from going to a full vote on Friday.
