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Rep. Clay Higgins

Representative for Louisiana’s 3rd District

pronounced klay // HI-ginz

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Higgins is the representative for Louisiana’s 3rd congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 3, 2017. Higgins is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.

Higgins is among the Republican legislators who, by calling for entire states to be disenfranchised in the 2020 presidential election, fomented the terrorist attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 that aimed to prevent the determination of the next president of the United States. Shortly after the 2020 election, Higgins joined a case before the Supreme Court calling for all the votes for president in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — states that were narrowly won by Democrats — to be discounted, claiming that some voters there followed procedures set by the wrong state officials. The case amplified lies and conspiracy theories that fueled the movement that led to the attack on the Capitol. The Supreme Court rejected the case. Following the rejection of several cases before the Supreme Court, one legislator called for violence. On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the attack on the Capitol, Higgins voted for the exclusion of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania — states narrowly won by Democrats — from the count of Electoral College votes that determined the next President of the United States.
Photo of Rep. Clay Higgins [R-LA3]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 Report Card for Higgins.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Higgins is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Higgins has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to May 7, 2021. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

The Club for Growth: 83% United States Chamber of Commerce: 82% League of Conservation Voters: 1% Human Rights Campaign: 0% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 0%

Committee Membership

Clay Higgins sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Higgins was the primary sponsor of 1 bill that was enacted:

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Does 1 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Higgins sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Armed Forces and National Security (18%) Education (15%) Crime and Law Enforcement (15%) Immigration (15%) Energy (15%) Government Operations and Politics (10%) Health (5%) Emergency Management (5%)

Recent Bills

Some of Higgins’s most recently sponsored bills include...

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Higgins voted Nay

Higgins voted Nay

Passed 411/5 on Apr 15, 2021.

Higgins voted Nay

Passed 327/85 on Dec 21, 2020.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, a major government funding bill, which also included economic stimulus provisions due ...

Higgins voted Nay

Higgins voted Nay

Passed 397/5 on Sep 29, 2020.
The overwhelming majority of Republicans supported the resolution, but not all of them. # Context President Donald Trump has claimed that he might refuse to ...

Higgins voted Nay

Passed 413/3 on Jan 8, 2020.

Higgins voted Nay

Passed 361/61 on Sep 26, 2018.
H.R. 6157 provides $674.6 billion in total discretionary budget authority for the Department of Defense for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The bill provides $606.5 billion ...

Higgins voted Yea

Passed 229/177 on May 19, 2017.
H.R. 1039 amends the federal criminal code to authorize a probation officer to arrest a person, without warrant, if there is probable cause to believe ...

Missed Votes

From Jan 2017 to Apr 2021, Higgins missed 143 of 2,297 roll call votes, which is 6.2%. This is much worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: