Non-Profit Report Gives Low Scores To Bottom 4 Tennessee GOP Senators

Image Credit: TRLC

The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

The Tennessee Legislative Report Card (TLRC) has given Senators Richard Briggs, Todd Gardenhire, Ken Yager, and Jack Johnson the lowest rankings of all Republican Senators in the Tennessee General Assembly.

The four senators all scored less than 60 out of 100 on the 2022 Report Card which employs a scoring methodology based on three broad categories: fiscal impact which has to do with spending, taxation, and budgets; agenda politics which encompasses cronyism, transparency and agendas; and property and civil rights which relates to personal and economic freedom.

Johnson, a 16-year incumbent, is running for his fifth term in office and is being challenged by Gary Humble in the August 4th Republican primary for District 27. The current Republican Majority Leader ranked 24th out of 27 senators, scoring 58/100.

Yager, was elected in 2008 and is not up for re-election in District 12 until 2024. He scored 56/100 placing him 25th.

Gardenhire, who has faced backlash over his views on illegal immigration is also not up for reelection this year. He scored just 50/100 ranking him 26th out of 27. Gardenhire is one of the top five RINOs of the year as detailed in The Tennessee Conservative’s RINO Report.

Ranking dead last out of all of the Republican senators is Briggs with a score of 46/100. Briggs, who is running for re-election in District 7, has the support of the left leaning Tennessee Education Association (TEA) who recently sent out mailers encouraging Democrats to request Republican ballots in the upcoming primary – for which early voting has already begun – allowing them to cast crossover votes for him. Briggs also made it into our list of the top five RINOs.

Norman Bobo, a Tennessee grassroots leader, used TRLC’s report card to create a graphic and analysis that shows the rankings of all the Tennessee senators from best to worst. 

TRLC is a resource that allows voters to look up members of the Tennessee General Assembly and examine their records, ensuring legislative transparency and accountability to Tennesseans based on legislator’s actions. The annual report card was launched in 2017 by Tennessee Rising, a non-partisan, non-profit 501c4 dedicated to a “freedom friendly future that provides equal opportunity for every Tennessee resident.”

Tennessee Rising welcomes volunteers who are interested in taking an active role in holding state legislators accountable. The organization’s goal is to have a pair of volunteers for each representative and senator in the state legislature.

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.