WASHINGTON, D.C. — Club for Growth Foundation today released its Missed Votes Massachusetts scorecard for the General Court of Massachusetts 2021 regular session. The newly launched Missed Votes Scorecards calculate how often lawmakers show up to vote and how often they miss votes.
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.”
Lawmakers miss votes for a whole host of reasons, including personal reasons, 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.
This scorecard is based on a review of all floor votes taken in the General Court of Massachusetts from 01/28/2021 to 11/17/2021. 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. We expect all lawmakers to know their own voting records ahead of this publication.
Key Insights
Massachusetts Senate
The average Massachusetts senator missed 2 percent out of a total of 112 floor votes, with Republican senators on average missing 0 percent of all floor votes and Democrat senators on average missing 2 percent of all floor votes. Sen. Michael Barrett (Third Middlesex) missed the most votes – 12 out of 112 – for a score of 11 percent missed votes. While Senate President Karen Spilka (Second Middlesex and Norfolk) missed more votes (62%, or 69 missed votes), the Senate President’s main role is to preside over the session and is not called on during votes according to Senate rules. However, the Senate President may vote on all questions. By not missing a single vote, the following senators received a perfect attendance score:
- Joseph Boncore (First Suffolk and Middlesex) *“Boncore left office on 9/9/2021
- Michael Brady (Second Plymouth and Bristol)
- William Brownsberger (Second Suffolk and Middlesex)
- Harriette Chandler (First Worcester)
- Sonia Chang-Diaz (Second Suffolk)
- Nick Collins (First Suffolk)
- Joanne Comerford (Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester)
- Cynthia Creem (First Middlesex and Norfolk)
- Brendan Crighton (Third Essex)
- John Cronin (Worcester and Middlesex)
- Julian Cyr (Cape and Islands)
- Salvatore DiDomenico (Middlesex and Suffolk)
- Diana DiZoglio (First Essex)
- James Eldridge (Middlesex and Worcester)
- Ryan Fattman (Worcester and Norfolk)
- Paul Feeney (Bristol and Norfolk)
- Barry Finegold (Second Essex and Middlesex)
- Cindy Friedman (Fourth Middlesex)
- Anne Gobi (Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Middlesex)
- Adam Gomez (Hampden)
- Adam Hinds (Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden)
- Patricia Jehlen (Second Middlesex)
- John Keenan (Norfolk and Plymouth)
- Edward Kennedy (First Middlesex)
- Eric Lesser (First Hampden and Hampshire)
- Jason Lewis (Fifth Middlesex)
- Joan Lovely (Second Essex)
- Mark Montigny (Second Bristol and Plymouth)
- Michael Moore (Second Worcester)
- Susan Moran (Plymouth and Barnstable)
- Patrick O’Connor (Plymouth and Norfolk)
- Marc Pacheco (First Plymouth and Bristol)
- Rebecca Rausch (Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex)
- Michael Rodrigues (First Bristol and Plymouth)
- Michael Rush (Norfolk and Suffolk)
- Bruce Tarr (First Essex and Middlesex)
- Walter Timilty (Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth)
- John Velis (Second Hampden and Hampshire)
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The average Massachusetts House member missed 0 percent of 66 total floor votes, with Republican members on average missing 0 percent of all floor votes and Democrat members on average missing 0 percent of all floor votes. Rep. Patrick Kearney (Fourth Plymouth) missed the most votes –9 out of 66– for a score of 14 percent missed votes. By not missing a single vote, the following House members received a perfect attendance score:
- James Arciero (Second Middlesex)
- Brian Ashe (Second Hampden)
- Bruce Ayers (First Norfolk)
- Ruth Balser (Twelfth Middlesex)
- Christine Barber (Thirty-Fourth Middlesex)
- John Barrett (First Berkshire)
- Fred Barrows (First Bristol)
- Donald Berthiaume (Fifth Worcester)
- David Biele (Fourth Suffolk)
- Natalie Blais (First Franklin)
- Antonio Cabral (Thirteenth Bristol)
- Daniel Cahill (Tenth Essex)
- Peter Capano (Eleventh Essex)
- Daniel Carey (Second Hampshire)
- Gerard Cassidy (Ninth Plymouth)
- Tackey Chan (Second Norfolk)
- Mike Connolly (Twenty-Sixth Middlesex)
- Rob Consalvo (Fourteenth Suffolk)
- Edward Coppinger (Tenth Suffolk)
- Claire Cronin (Eleventh Plymouth)
- Mark Cusack (Fifth Norfolk)
- Josh Cutler (Sixth Plymouth)
- Angelo D’Emilia (Eighth Plymouth)
- Marjorie Decker (Twenty-Fifth Middlesex)
- Marcos Devers (Sixteenth Essex)
- Kip Diggs (Second Barnstable)
- Carol Doherty (Third Bristol)
- Mindy Domb (Third Hampshire)
- Daniel Donahue (Sixteenth Worcester)
- Paul Donato (Thirty-Fifth Middlesex)
- Shawn Dooley (Ninth Norfolk)
- William Driscoll (Seventh Norfolk)
- Michelle Dubois (Tenth Plymouth)
- Patricia Duffy (Fifth Hampden)
- Peter Durant (Sixth Worcester)
- Carolyn Dykema (Eighth Middlesex)
- Lori Ehrlich (Eighth Essex)
- Nika Elugardo (Fifteenth Suffolk)
- Tricia Farley-Bouvier (Third Berkshire)
- Kimberly Ferguson (First Worcester)
- Dylan Fernandes (Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket)
- Michael Finn (Sixth Hampden)
- Carole Fiola (Sixth Bristol)
- Brandy Fluker Oakley (Twelfth Suffolk)
- Paul Frost (Seventh Worcester)
- William Galvin (Sixth Norfolk)
- Sean Garballey (Twenty-Third Middlesex)
- Denise Garlick (Thirteenth Norfolk)
- Carmine Gentile (Thirteenth Middlesex)
- Jessica Giannino (Sixteenth Suffolk)
- Susan Gifford (Second Plymouth)
- Thomas Golden (Sixteenth Middlesex)
- Carlos Gonzalez (Tenth Hampden)
- Kenneth Gordon (Twenty-First Middlesex)
- Danielle Gregoire (Fourth Middlesex)
- Patricia Haddad (Fifth Bristol)
- Richard Haggerty (Thirtieth Middlesex)
- James Hawkins (Second Bristol)
- Christopher Hendricks (Eleventh Bristol)
- Natalie Higgins (Fourth Worcester)
- Bradford Hill (Fourth Essex) *Hill left office on 9/15/2021
- Kate Hogan (Third Middlesex)
- Russell Holmes (Sixth Suffolk)
- Kevin Honan (Seventeenth Suffolk)
- Vanna Howard (Seventeenth Middlesex)
- Steven Howitt (Fourth Bristol)
- Daniel Hunt (Thirteenth Suffolk)
- Bradley Jones (Twentieth Middlesex)
- Hannah Kane (Eleventh Worcester)
- Mary Keefe (Fifteenth Worcester)
- James Kelcourse (First Essex)
- Sally Kerans (Thirteenth Essex)
- Kay Khan (Eleventh Middlesex)
- Meghan Kilcoyne (Twelfth Worcester)
- Michael Kushmerek (Third Worcester)
- Kathleen LaNatra (Twelfth Plymouth)
- John Lawn (Tenth Middlesex)
- Jack Lewis (Seventh Middlesex)
- David Linsky (Fifth Middlesex)
- Kate Lipper-Garabedian (Thirty-Second Middlesex)
- Jay Livingstone (Eighth Suffolk)
- Marc Lombardo (Twenty-Second Middlesex)
- Adrian Madaro (First Suffolk)
- John Mahoney (Thirteenth Worcester)
- Elizabeth Malia (Eleventh Suffolk)
- Ronald Mariano (Third Norfolk)
- Paul Mark (Second Berkshire)
- Christopher Markey (Ninth Bristol)
- Joseph McGonagle (Twenty-Eighth Middlesex)
- Joseph McKenna (Eighteenth Worcester)
- Paul McMurty (Eleventh Norfolk)
- Joan Meschino (Third Plymouth)
- Aaron Michlewitz (Third Suffolk)
- Christina Minicucci (Fourteenth Essex)
- Liz Miranda (Fifth Suffolk)
- Leonard Mirra (Second Essex)
- Rady Mom (Eighteenth Middlesex)
- Frank Moran (Seventeenth Essex)
- David Muradian (Ninth Worcester)
- Mathew Muratore (First Plymouth)
- James Murphy (Fourth Norfolk)
- Tram Nguyen (Eighteenth Essex)
- James O’Day (Fourteenth Worcester)
- Jacob Oliveira (Seventh Hampden)
- Norman Orrall (Twelfth Bristol)
- Steven Owens (Twenty-Ninth Middlesex)
- Jerald Parisella (Sixth Essex)
- Sarah Peake (Fourth Barnstable)
- Kelly Pease (Fourth Hampden)
- Alice Peisch (Fourteenth Norfolk)
- Edward Philips (Eighth Norfolk)
- William Pignatelli (Fourth Berkshire)
- Angelo Puppolo (Twelfth Hampden)
- David Robertson (Nineteenth Middlesex)
- David Rogers (Twenty-Fourth Middlesex)
- Jeffrey Roy (Tenth Norfolk)
- Daniel Ryan (Second Suffolk)
- Lindsay Sabadosa (First Hampshire)
- Jon Santiago (Ninth Suffolk)
- Adam Scanlon (Fourteenth Bristol)
- Danillo Sena (Thirty-Seventh Middlesex)
- Alan Silvia (Seventh Bristol)
- Todd Smola (First Hampden)
- Michael Soter (Eighth Worcester)
- Thomas Stanley (Ninth Middlesex)
- William Straus (Tenth Bristol)
- Alyson Sullivan (Seventh Plymouth)
- Paul Tucker (Seventh Essex)
- Jeffrey Turco (Nineteenth Suffolk) **Turco assumed office 4/7/2021
- Steven Ultrino (Thirty-Third Middlesex)
- Andres Vargas (Third Essex)
- David Vieira (Third Barnstable)
- Tommy Vitolo (Fifteenth Norfolk)
- Joseph Wagner (Eighth Hampden)
- Thomas Walsh (Twelfth Essex)
- Timothy Whelan (First Barnstable)
- Bud Williams (Eleventh Hampden)
- Donald Wong (Ninth Essex)
- Steven Xiarhos (Fifth Barnstable)
- Jonathan Zlotnik (Second Worcester)
We asked lawmakers who missed at least 10 percent of the votes if they’d like us to include an explanation. Here is the one response we received:
Susannah Whipps (Second Franklin)
Thank you for your attention to this.
Just to provide a bit more information relating to my “present” votes –
As I am the owner of a manufacturing company which provides equipment for the water & wastewater industries, to avoid the appearance of impropriety, I vote “present” on any particular matters relating to such.