My congresswoman (Yes, I know who it is, Professor Coppock) is Abigail Spanberger. Congresswoman Spanberger has represented VA-7 for the past five years, and I have always thought she has done a terrific job. However, after our class last week, I realized I might not be doing a great job of holding my representative accountable for her votes in Congress.
As a result of my rational ignorance (I mean, I have econometrics to study—why would I keep track of her voting record?), I’ve come to understand that I may have inadvertently contributed to the slack that allows my representative to vote according to her own ideology without much consequence from the electorate. This excess slack creates more opportunities for shirking, enabling representatives, like Abigail Spanberger, to avoid fulfilling their full duties to their constituents.
To combat this problem single-handedly, I decided to conduct my own analysis to see how satisfied I truly am with my congresswoman’s actions. As it turns out, you can find a record of every congressperson’s voting history and ideological score on GovTrack. Here are some surprising facts I discovered:
- She was one of the only Democrats to vote no on the Protecting American Lungs and Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2020 (potentially influenced by her constituent Altria).
- She was one of seven Democrats to vote against the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act, which repealed the COVID vaccine mandate for hospital workers.
- She was one of four Democrats to vote in favor of making the assault of a law enforcement officer a deportable offense.
I was surprised to learn that Spanberger is one of the most moderate Democrats in terms of her ideology and voting score. While I may not be thrilled with some of her votes, I am still proud to have her as my congresswoman. Perhaps in the future, I’ll pay closer attention to ensure she isn’t shirking her responsibilities—especially if she becomes our future governor.
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