For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019
Contact:
Lee Francis | Deputy Director
Virginia League of Conservation Voters
(804) 225-1902 | lfrancis@valcv.org
RICHMOND – The Virginia League of Conservation Voters today released the Virginia congressional delegation’s scores in the League of Conservation Voters’ 2018 National Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard is the primary yardstick for evaluating the environmental records of every member of Congress, and is available for download here, in Spanish here, and online at scorecard.lcv.org.
“Virginia’s House delegation looks very different today than it did in 2018 and for good reason: you can’t continuously vote against clean air, clean water and climate action and expect to keep your job in Congress – Virginia voters simply demand more,” said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters. “We applaud all of the environmental champions who pushed back against the Trump administration’s reckless, anti-environmental agenda and voted against the worst assaults on conservation. With a pro-climate congressional delegation now in place in Virginia, we look forward to the 2019 Scorecard telling a very different story.”
The 2018 Scorecard measures votes cast during the second session of the 115th Congress. In Virginia, four House members earned a score of 80 percent or greater and both U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine earned perfect scores of 100 percent, while six House members received subpar scores of 10 percent or less.
The average House score for Virginia was 36 percent and the average score across Virginia’s congressional delegation as a whole was 68 percent.
The full delegation’s scores for 2018 are:
United States Senate
| Name | Party | 2018 Score | Lifetime Score |
| Tim Kaine | D | 100 | 95 |
| Mark Warner | D | 100 | 87 |
United States House of Representatives
| Name | Party | District | 2018 Score | Lifetime Score |
| Rob Wittman | R | 1 | 6 | 11 |
| Scott Taylor | R | 2 | 9 | 7 |
| Bobby Scott | D | 3 | 94 | 91 |
| Don McEachin | D | 4 | 86 | 87 |
| Tom Garrett | R | 5 | 9 | 6 |
| Bob Goodlatte | R | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Dave Brat | R | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| Don Beyer | D | 8 | 86 | 96 |
| Morgan Griffith | R | 9 | 3 | 5 |
| Barbara Comstock | R | 10 | 14 | 7 |
| Gerry Connolly | D | 11 | 94 | 97 |
The 2018 National Environmental Scorecard reveals that, once again, the extreme pro-polluter Republican leadership drove their caucuses to an abysmal average score of 8 percent in both chambers of Congress. In stark contrast, Senate Democrats and the Independents who caucus with them earned an average score of 95 percent, and House Democrats earned an average score of 90 percent.
“After eight years of the most anti-environmental U.S. House ever and two years of relentless attacks on the environment from the Trump administration, the tectonic shift to a pro-environment majority in the people’s House comes not a moment too soon. We could not be more excited to work with the new pro-environment House majority to protect our air, water, lands, and wildlife, combat the climate crisis, and hold the Trump administration accountable,” said LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld.
The 2018 Scorecard includes 35 House votes that span the chamber’s assaults on clean air and water, lands and wildlife protections, investments in clean energy and so much more. In the Senate, the majority of the 14 votes scored are confirmation votes on Trump’s anti-environmental nominees.
LCV has published a National Environmental Scorecard every Congress since 1970. The Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from about 20 respected environmental and conservation organizations who selected the key votes on which members of Congress should be scored.
LCV scores votes on the most important issues of the year, including energy, climate change, public health, public lands and wildlife conservation, and spending for environmental programs. The votes included in the Scorecard presented members of Congress with a real choice and help distinguish which legislators are working for environmental protection. More information on individual votes and the Scorecard archive can be found at scorecard.lcv.org.
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