Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation with Gov. Wes Moore (D) at a U.S. Capitol news conference on April 9, 2024 about the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. File photo by Katharine Wilson/Capital News Service.
Seven members of Maryland’s congressional delegation received perfect scores from Common Cause, the national political reform organization, for their votes during the 118th Congress.
U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st), took the “wrong” position, in Common Cause’s view, on all 13 House measures that the organization scored during this Congress.
The group’s “2024 Democracy Scorecard,” which was released Monday, graded House members on 13 bills on voting rights and democracy, including the Freedom to Vote Act, John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, and the decision to expel then-Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). Common Cause tallied members’ votes on certain pieces of legislation and willingness to sponsor other measures.
The Senate was graded on 10 bills.
“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 and CEO of Common Cause.
“The number of members of Congress with perfect scores increased 101% from 2020, with 58 members in 2020 to 117 today. As we see the wealthy and well-connected try and influence our politics and our very livelihoods, we must demand our leaders deliver on the people’s pro-democracy agenda,” she said.
Since 2016, Common Cause has tracked support and co-sponsorship of democracy related legislation.
In the latest scorecard, Maryland was one of eight states where the votes of its U.S. senators — Ben Cardin (D) and Chris Van Hollen (D) — aligned perfectly with Common Cause priorities (the other states were California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont).
In Maryland’s House delegation, five members — Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-4th), Kweisi Mfume (D-7th), Jamie Raskin (D-8th), John Sarbanes (D-3rd) and David Trone (D-6th) rang up perfect scores. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-2nd) aligned with the reform group on 12 of 13 bills, while Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-5th) was in accord with Common Cause on 10 of 13 bills.
“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,” said Joanne Antoine, executive director of Maryland Common Cause.