ALEXANDRIA, VA (February 2, 2023) — The voting of Idaho’s state lawmakers trended much more liberal last year, dropping the state from #7 to #23 in the national conservative rankings produced by the Center for Legislative Accountability (CLA). The rankings are based on analyses of the voting of all 7,400 state lawmakers in the nation, including over 265,000 individual votes across 3,500 different bills introduced across the 50 state legislatures. Idaho’s conservative rating fell from 69.93% to a dismal 59.29% last session, with only 34 of the state’s 93 Republican lawmakers receiving awards for voting in-line with the conservative position at least 80% of the time. The conservative rating is based on lawmaker voting across 186 policy areas ranging from cultural and life issues to tax, fiscal, and regulatory policies.
There is an opportunity for improvement in Idaho’s ranking as Rep. Mike Moyle (a stellar 86% conservative rating) has recently been sworn in as Speaker. But major concerns still remain on the Senate side where the conservative ratings of many members and leadership hover around a mere 50-54%. However, CPAC looks forward to working with leadership and all members to help return Idaho to a top 10 state.