How Loyal to Their Party Are State Senators?
Which Georgia State Senators are most likely to vote with the other members of their party? During the 2015-2016 legislative session, for Republicans, the list includes Brandon Beach, John Wilkinson, and Tyler Harper. For the Democrats, names would include Michael Rhett and Gail Davenport. Who votes least with their party? Republicans Mike Crane, Josh McKoon, and Bill Heath strayed the most, while for the Democrats, it was Vincent Fort.
What may be more interesting is the wide variation in loyalty between the most loyal and the least.
The chart above plots the percentage frequency a senator votes with his or her party on the vertical axis, and the number of senators on the horizontal axis. For Republicans, you can see that 31 members out of 39 voted with the majority of their party 90% of the time or more. Beyond that, there’s a sharp dropoff to as low as 52%. For Democrats, 13 of 18 senators voted with their party 90% or more of the time, however the senator voting against the majority of their party still agreed 82.7% of the time.
To determine party loyalty, we looked at all non-unanimous roll call votes and determined how the majority of each party voted on each one. If a senator voted with the majority of their party, he was considered loyal. a senator was not counted for a given vote if he or she was excused or was meeting with friends in the hall when the vote was taken. For example, on a given vote, if 35 Republicans voted yes, and 12 Democrats voted no, Republicans voting yes and Democrats voting no would be considered loyal since they voted with the majority of their caucus. This ranking is not a traditional scorecard used to determine if a senator voted the way the group publishing the scorecard wanted them to — the actual content of the bill, sponsor, etc. was not considered.
You can see the loyalty score for each senator below the fold. Keep in mind that due to resignations, some senators only voted in one year.
Republican Members
| Name | District | 2015 Loyalty | Name | District | 2016 Loyalty | |
| John Kennedy | 18 | 99.61% | John Wilkinson | 50 | 98.17% | |
| Tyler Harper | 7 | 98.70% | Brandon Beach | 21 | 97.84% | |
| Ellis Black | 8 | 98.31% | Jeff Mullis | 53 | 97.81% | |
| Ben Watson | 1 | 98.03% | Greg Kirk | 13 | 97.78% | |
| John Wilkinson | 50 | 98.03% | Frank Ginn | 47 | 97.74% | |
| Jack Hill | 4 | 97.91% | Butch Miller | 49 | 97.72% | |
| Dean Burke | 11 | 97.83% | Dean Burke | 11 | 97.56% | |
| Tommie Williams | 19 | 97.77% | Tyler Harper | 7 | 97.29% | |
| Jesse Stone | 23 | 97.52% | Jack Hill | 4 | 97.22% | |
| Brandon Beach | 21 | 97.22% | Tommie Williams | 19 | 97.21% | |
| Rick Jeffares | 17 | 96.71% | Ellis Black | 8 | 97.10% | |
| Fran Millar | 40 | 96.68% | Larry Walker | 20 | 96.96% | |
| Ross Tolleson | 20 | 96.67% | Lindsey Tippins | 37 | 96.80% | |
| Jeff Mullis | 53 | 96.25% | Bill Jackson | 24 | 96.44% | |
| Renee Unterman | 45 | 95.96% | John Kennedy | 18 | 96.14% | |
| Mike Dugan | 30 | 95.82% | Rick Jeffares | 17 | 95.61% | |
| Butch Miller | 49 | 95.82% | JaNice VanNess | 43 | 95.48% | |
| Bill Jackson | 24 | 95.76% | Ben Watson | 1 | 95.48% | |
| Frank Ginn | 47 | 95.53% | David Shafer | 48 | 95.15% | |
| David Shafer | 48 | 95.43% | Fran Millar | 40 | 94.88% | |
| Chuck Hufstetler | 52 | 95.38% | Jesse Stone | 23 | 94.83% | |
| Greg Kirk | 13 | 94.92% | Burt Jones | 25 | 94.74% | |
| Bill Cowsert | 46 | 94.35% | Hunter Hill | 6 | 94.04% | |
| Judson Hill | 32 | 94.06% | Mike Dugan | 30 | 93.27% | |
| Bruce Thompson | 14 | 93.07% | Charlie Bethel | 54 | 92.56% | |
| P.K. Martin | 9 | 92.47% | P.K. Martin | 9 | 92.54% | |
| Burt Jones | 25 | 92.37% | Chuck Hufstetler | 52 | 91.93% | |
| Steve Gooch | 51 | 90.70% | Bruce Thompson | 14 | 91.78% | |
| Charlie Bethel | 54 | 90.38% | Judson Hill | 32 | 91.24% | |
| William Ligon | 3 | 90.17% | Renee Unterman | 45 | 91.22% | |
| Michael Williams | 27 | 89.67% | John Albers | 56 | 90.21% | |
| Lindsey Tippins | 37 | 89.47% | Bill Ccowsert | 46 | 87.44% | |
| Hunter Hill | 6 | 87.93% | William Ligon | 3 | 86.28% | |
| John Albers | 56 | 86.36% | Michael Williams | 27 | 86.10% | |
| Marty Harbin | 16 | 83.81% | Steve Gooch | 51 | 85.51% | |
| Bill Heath | 31 | 64.50% | Marty Harbin | 16 | 81.61% | |
| Josh McKoon | 29 | 64.04% | Bill Heath | 31 | 65.52% | |
| Mike Crane | 28 | 52.19% | Josh McKoon | 29 | 56.05% | |
| Mike Crane | 28 | 55.27% |
Democratic Members
| Name | District | 2015 Loyalty | Name | District | 2016 Loyalty | |
| Valencia Seay | 34 | 97.14% | Michael Rhett | 33 | 96.05% | |
| Michael Rhett | 33 | 94.72% | Lester Jackson | 2 | 94.42% | |
| Emanuel Jones | 10 | 94.21% | Gail Davenport | 44 | 94.27% | |
| Harold Jones | 22 | 93.83% | Elena Parent | 42 | 94.27% | |
| Gail Davenport | 44 | 93.57% | Harold Jones | 22 | 92.66% | |
| Ronald Ramsey | 43 | 93.22% | Ed Harbison | 15 | 92.31% | |
| Lester Jackson | 2 | 92.89% | Emanuel Jones | 10 | 92.11% | |
| Elena Parent | 42 | 92.53% | Curt Thompson | 5 | 91.76% | |
| Nan Orrock | 36 | 92.24% | Valencia Seay | 34 | 91.56% | |
| Donzella James | 35 | 92.02% | Steve Henson | 41 | 91.12% | |
| David Lucas | 26 | 91.89% | Donzella James | 35 | 90.69% | |
| Ed Harbison | 15 | 91.67% | Nan Orrock | 36 | 90.26% | |
| Steve Henson | 41 | 90.18% | David Lucas | 26 | 90.10% | |
| Curt Thompson | 5 | 89.16% | Gloria Butler | 55 | 89.96% | |
| Horacena Tate | 38 | 88.73% | Freddie Sims | 12 | 89.77% | |
| Gloria Butler | 55 | 88.57% | Horacena Tate | 38 | 88.68% | |
| Freddie Sims | 12 | 88.52% | Vincent Fort | 39 | 84.08% | |
| Vincent Fort | 39 | 82.73% |
About Author
Jon Richards
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I. Could. Not. Care. Less.
“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” — excerpt from George Washington’s farewell address
I appreciate the effort in the preparation of this. It omits the important consideration that legislation rarely if ever comes to the floor for a vote without leadership’s approval and the GOP votes to carry it.