WASHINGTON, D.C. — Club for Growth Foundation today released its Missed Votes Connecticut scorecard for the General Assembly’s 2021 regular session. The newly launched Missed Votes Scorecards calculate how often lawmakers show up to vote and how often they miss votes.
Lawmakers miss votes for a whole host of reasons, including medical issues, family concerns, prior commitments, purely political motivations, or other reasons. The Club for Growth Foundation generally doesn’t analyze why a lawmaker has missed a vote and is simply publishing this quantified information for educational purposes only.
According to Club for Growth Foundation President David McIntosh, “Constituents need to know the missed votes records of their representatives so they can decide for themselves if elected officials are avoiding a difficult vote or have a legitimate reason for missing a particular vote. Sadly, this information is often not available, and that is why the Club for Growth Foundation is publishing Missed Votes scorecards.”
This scorecard is based on a review of all floor votes taken in the Connecticut General Assembly from January 6, 2021 to July 14, 2021. There are inherent limitations in judging the overall qualifications of any legislator based on how many votes he or she has missed, and the Club for Growth Foundation does not endorse or oppose any legislator for public office.
Key Insights
Connecticut Senate
The average Connecticut senator missed 3 percent of 470 total floor votes, with Republican senators on average missing 3 percent of all floor votes and Democrat senators on average missing 3 percent of all floor votes. Sen. Dennis Bradley (SD-23) missed the most votes – 157 votes out of 470 – for a score of 33 percent missed votes. By not missing a single vote, the following senators received a perfect attendance score:
- Jorge Cabrera (SD-17)
- Christine Cohen (SD-12)
- Mary Daugherty Abrams (SD-13)
- Robert Duff (SD-25)
- William Haskell (SD-26)
- Julie Kushner (SD-24)
- Martin Looney (SD-11)
- James Maroney (SD-14)
Connecticut House of Representatives
The average Connecticut House member missed 5 percent of 467 total floor votes, with Republican members on average missing 6 percent of all floor votes and Democrat members on average missing 5 percent of all floor votes. Rep. John Hampton (HD-16) missed the most votes – 423 out of 467 – for a score of 91 percent missed votes. By not missing a single vote, the following House members received a perfect attendance score:
- Timothy Ackert (HD-8)
- Thomas Arnone (HD-58)
- Patrick Callahan (HD-108)
- Vincent Candelora (HD-86)
- Christie Carpino (HD-32)
- Jay Case (HD-63)
- Anne Dauphinais (HD-44)
- Tom Delnicki (HD-14)
- Mike Demicco (HD-21)
- Michael DiGiovancarlo (HD-74)
- Joseph Gresko (HD-121)
- Gregory Haddad (HD-54)
- Irene Haines (HD-34)
- Cindy Harrison (HD-69)
- Maria Horn (HD-64)
- Dorinda Keenan Borer (HD-115)
- Kathleen Kennedy (HD-119)
- Brian Lanoue (HD-45)
- Cristin McCarthy Vahey (HD-133)
- Amy Morrin Bello (HD-28)
- Alphonse Paolillo (HD-97)
- John-Michael Parker (HD-101)
- John Piscopo (HD-76)
- Matthew Ritter (HD-1)
- Jason Rojas (HD-9)
- Hilda Santiago (HD-84)
- Tony Scott (HD-112)
- Brian Smith (HD-48)
- Gary Turco (HD-27)
- Donna Veach (HD-30)
- Mary Welander (HD-114)
- Dave Yaccarino (HD-87)
- Tami Zawistowski (HD-61)
We asked lawmakers who missed at least 10% of the votes if they’d like us to include an explanation. We received no responses.