FACT CHECK: Was Kamala Harris Ranked The Most Liberal Senator By GovTrack?
A post shared by Republican Florida Rep. Mike Waltz claims that Vice President Kamala Harris was once ranked the most liberal senator by GovTrack. Waltz’s post comparing Harris to other popular Democrats was confirmed to be true by GovTrack’s rankings in 2019. Harris recently held her first rally after receiving support from key Democrats and raising over $100 million in donations for her campaign. The claim made by Waltz about Harris being the most liberal senator was accurate according to GovTrack’s report card for 2019 and 2020. The post highlights Harris’ political stance compared to other Democratic leaders.
A post shared on X by Republican Florida Rep. Mike Waltz claims Vice President Kamala Harris was once ranked the most liberal senator by GovTrack.
Reminder: Kamala Harris is ranked the MOST LIBERAL left wing Senator by non-partisan GovTrack.
She’s to the left of Bernie and Elizabeth Warren.
She is the Squadron Commander for the Squad!
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) July 23, 2024
Verdict: True
This claim is true. GovTrack ranked Harris as the most liberal senator in 2019.
Fact Check:
Harris held her first rally since former President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy for President and endorsed her, according to Associated Press. The vice president has also received several more key Democrats’ support, including House Democrat leader Hakeem Jefferies, and her campaign has received more than $100 million in donations, the outlet reported.
A post from Waltz claims GovTrack ranked Harris as the most liberal senator. He also compared Harris to other popular Democrats.
“Reminder: Kamala Harris is ranked the MOST LIBERAL left wing Senator by non-partisan GovTrack,” the post reads. “She’s to the left of Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. She is the Squadron Commander for the Squad!”
This claim is accurate. An archived version of the GovTrack Report Card for 2019 ranked then-California Sen. Harris as the “most politically left.” In 2020, she was ranked second most politically left behind Democratic Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. (RELATED: No, Video Does Not Show First Kamala Harris Presidential Ad)
Joshua Tauberer, founder of GovTrack, told Check Your Fact that GovTrack used to publish legislator “report cards” based on a single calendar year at the end of the first year of a two-year Congress.
“The statistic that Rep. Waltz is referring to was based on a single calendar year,” Tauberer said. “Several years ago we discontinued creating new single-calendar-year ‘report cards’: We determined that the limited data available in a single year was not sufficient to create a reliable portrait of the activity of legislators, particularly given the ebbs and flows of the legislative calendar, and therefore did not serve as a useful tool to our users and the American public.”
Tauberer referred Check Your Fact to Harris’ page on the site, which he said is the “most reliable co-sponsorship ideology analysis relevant” to the topic, as well as a page for “biennial report cards based on complete two-year data for each Congressional session.” The graph, titled “Ideology-Leadership chart” showed Harris as one of the top-10 most left-leaning scorers on the chart between 2017 and 2022.
Attacks against the incumbent vice president have intensified shortly after she was endorsed by Biden. Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance correctly claimed Harris and Biden suspended deportations and halted construction of the border wall on the first day of the administration.
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Now loading...