NumbersUSA lost a great champion for American workers Tuesday night when Rep. Dave Brat was narrowly defeated by Democratic challenger Abigail Spanberger. (We'll have more on her in a later post.) But with most of the House races settled, we can proudly announce that nearly all of the NumbersUSA A+ rated Members who ran for re-election will return to Congress in 2019.
As Roy noted yesterday, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas was the only other A+ Member, in addition to Rep. Brat, to lose a re-election bid. Thirty-two of the 34 U.S. Representatives with an A+ grade in the current Congress who were on the ballot won on Tuesday night.
In addition, three newcomers who earned NumbersUSA's True Reformer rating after completing our Immigration-Reduction Candidate Survey were elected, and a fourth is leading a race that's yet to be called.
Here's a look at those newly elected ‘True Reformer’ Members of Congress:
Chip Roy will attempt to fill the giant shoes left behind by the retiring Rep. Lamar Smith. According to our grade cards, no other Member of Congress has taken more actions to reduce legal immigration and to deter illegal immigration than Rep. Smith. Not to mention, he's the author of the Legal Workforce Act that would require all employers to use E-Verify (a bill endorsed by NumbersUSA). He also authored a bill in 1996 to implement the recommendations made by the Barbara Jordan Commission that eventually passed, but not before the legal immigration reforms were gutted from the bill. No one can replace Lamar Smith, but there is no better replacement than Roy.
Kevin Hern won the seat vacated by Rep. Jim Bridenstine who left office earlier this year to run NASA. Hern will follow a tough act; Bridenstine earned an A+ (96%) during his 5+ years in Congress.
Dan Meuser won the newly formed Pennsylvania 9. The Keystone State was forced to redraw its district lines for the 2018 elections, so Meuser doesn't directly replace a current Member of Congress, but his new district covers an area that was mostly represented by True Reformer Rep. Lou Barletta.
And if it holds, Mark Harris will fill the seat that's being vacated by Rep. Robert Pittenger. Rep. Pittenger had a solid record, earning a career A- grade, but he did vote for the Denham-Ryan amnesty bill this past summer.
The other A+ winners include:
Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-05)
Rep. Gary Palmer (AL-06)
Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-04)
Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05)
Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-04)
Rep. Ken Buck (CO-04)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL-01)
Rep. Bill Posey (FL-08)
Rep. Daniel Webster (FL-11)
Rep. Drew Ferguson (GA-03)
Rep. Jody Hice (GA-10)
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (GA-11)
Rep. Rick Allen (GA-12)
Rep. Steve King (IA-04)
Rep. Mike Johnson (LA-04)
Rep. Trent Kelly (MS-01)
Rep. Sam Graves (MO-06)
Rep. Lee Zeldin (NY-01)
Rep. Walter Jones (NC-03)
Rep. David Rouzer (NC-07)
Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-04)
Rep. Warren Davidson (OH-08)
Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10)
Rep. Scott DesJarlais (TN-04)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01)
Rep. John Ratcliffe (TX-04)
Rep. Jodey Arrington (TX-19)
Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22)
Rep. Kenny Marchant (TX-24)
Rep. Brian Babin (TX-36)
Rep. Jeff Duncan (SC-03)
Rep. Glenn Grothman (WI-06)
Vigilance Needed for Vacated A+ Seats
Seven A+ House Members (17%) didn't run for re-election. It's always a concern when you lose that many champions, but as I mentioned earlier, two of the seats (TX-21 and PA-09) will be filled by True Reformers.
Of the other five seats, most are strong on enforcement, but there's some reason for concern on legal immigration issues.
- Michael Waltz will represent Florida 6. The seat was vacated by Ron DeSantis who was elected governor of Florida. Waltz, a former Green Beret, called for stronger border security, but had little else to say on immigration.
- Russell Fulcher will represent Idaho 1. The seat will be vacated by Raul Labrador who ran for governor. Like Waltz, Fulcher appears to be strong on enforcement, but, while expressing concern over the Central American caravan making its way to the U.S.-Mexico border, he said our asylum process doesn't need to be fixed.
- Mark Green will represent Tennessee 7. The seat will be vacated by Marsha Blackburn who was elected as a U.S. Senator. Green is stronger than Fulcher and Waltz on stopping illegal immigration, calling for nationwide E-Verify. His position on legal immigration is a little less clear, but he was nominated by Pres. Trump for Army Secretary, but turned it down to run for office, so he will likely follow his lead.
- John Rose will represent Tennessee 6. The seat will be vacated by Diane Black who ran for governor. Rose centered much of his campaign around stopping illegal immigration, but as the state's former Ag Commissioner, he may be open to expanding legal immigration and/or guest worker programs.
- Jim Baird will represent Indiana 4. The seat will be vacated by Todd Rokita who ran for Senate. As a State Representative, Baird voted against given in-state tuition to illegal aliens, but he was one of the few Republican House candidates to call for a DACA amnesty during the campaign.
CHRIS CHMIELENSKI is the Deputy Director for NumbersUSA
