With the conclusion of the long legislative session, the 2019 Civitas Action Freedom Rankings are now finalized on the Civitas Action site. The purpose of the Freedom Rankings is to inform the public, in as unbiased a method as possible, where individual legislators stand on issues of freedom.

State legislators are graded on key votes that deal with the expansion or defense of freedom, as expressed by the ideals of the free-market, limited government, personal responsibility, and civic engagement. For more about the Ranking Methodology, check out the full description here.

This year, the Rankings were calculated using 15 graded votes in the Senate and 17 graded votes in the House. Each chamber was scored on 13 bill votes and one veto override vote. The Senate had one graded amendment vote while the House had three amendment votes.

Three House Representatives scored perfect scores on this year’s Freedom Rankings: Reps. Michael Speciale (R-Craven), Kelly Hastings (R-Gaston), and Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort). Rep. Speciale had the only perfect score with no absences. During the 2018 short session, 11 House members had a perfect score. Rep. Hastings is the only one of this year’s top-ranking members who also scored a perfect score last year. This year was Rep. Kidwell’s first in the legislature.

No Senator earned a perfect score on the 2019 rankings; there were two perfect scores in the Senate last year. The highest scoring Senator was John Alexander (R-Franklin) with a 90.9 score.

There was no crossover between the two political parties in this year’s rankings; all Republican members scored higher than their Democrat colleagues in both chambers. The highest scoring Democrats were Senator Don Davis (Greene) and Representative Charles Graham (Robeson), each earning scores of 53.3.

View the full rankings and see how well your elected representatives fought for freedom here.

Civitas Action is a 501(c)(4) non-profit that educates and informs North Carolinians on policy issues and the actions of their elected officials.