Golden State Today

Common Cause, the nonpartisan watchdog organization, has released its 2024 "Democracy Scorecard," evaluating every member of Congress on their support for voting rights, Supreme Court ethics, and other reforms.

"Our 2024 Democracy Scorecard shows a surge of support in Congress for reforms that strengthen the right to vote, take back the Supreme Court, and break big money’s grip on our politics," said Virginia Kase Solomón, President & CEO of Common Cause. "The number of members of Congress with perfect scores increased more than 100% from 2020, with 58 members in our 2020 Scorecard to 117 in this year’s Scorecard. As we see the wealthy and well-connected try to influence our politics and our very livelihoods, we must demand our leaders deliver on the people’s pro-democracy agenda."

Since 2016, Common Cause has tracked support and co-sponsorship of democracy-related legislation. This year’s scorecard includes ten legislative items in the U.S. Senate and thirteen in the U.S. House, including the Freedom to Vote Act, John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act.

"The 2024 Democracy Scorecard empowers voters with information to hold their leaders in Washington accountable for a government that works for all," said Jonathan Mehta Stein, Executive Director of California Common Cause. "Twenty-three of California’s members of Congress earned a perfect score for their support for pro-democracy legislation. With this year’s pivotal election, we must drive these key reforms to the top of the agenda so everyone is afforded an accountable government no matter what state we call home."

California is one of eight states where both U.S. Senators earned perfect scores. The other states include Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

California members of Congress with perfect scores:

Senator Laphonza Butler: 10/10

Senator Alex Padilla: 10/10

Representatives Pete Aguilar, Nanette Barragán, Julia Brownley, Salud Carbajal, Mark DeSaulnier, John Garamendi,

Robert Garcia,

Jimmy Gomez,

Jared Huffman,

Ro Khanna,

Barbara Lee,

Ted Lieu,

Zoe Lofgren,

Kevin Mullin,

Katie Porter,

Linda Sanchez,

Adam Schiff,

Brad Sherman,

Mark Takano,

Norma Torres,

and Juan Vargas: 13/13

California members of Congress with scores of zero:

Representative Darrell Issa: 0/13

Representative Doug LaMalfa: 0/13

Representative Tom McClintock: 0/13

Common Cause is a nonpartisan organization and does not endorse or oppose candidates for elected office.