skip to main content

 
Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter

Representative for Georgia’s 1st District

pronounced BUH-dee // KAHR-ter

(About Ads | Hide These Ads)

Carter is the representative for Georgia’s 1st congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 6, 2015. Carter is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.

Carter 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, Carter 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, Carter 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. Earl “Buddy” Carter [R-GA1]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 Report Card for Carter.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Carter 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 Carter has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jun 16, 2021. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

United States Chamber of Commerce: 82% The Club for Growth: 77% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: D League of Conservation Voters: 3% Human Rights Campaign: 0% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 0%

Committee Membership

Earl “Buddy” Carter sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Carter was the primary sponsor of 9 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

Does 9 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

Carter sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (35%) Government Operations and Politics (21%) Taxation (14%) Environmental Protection (9%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%) Labor and Employment (5%) Crime and Law Enforcement (5%) Commerce (5%)

Recent Bills

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

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Carter voted Nay

Carter voted Yea

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 ...

Carter voted Yea

Carter voted Nay

Passed 278/136 on Mar 11, 2020.

Carter voted Nay

Passed 369/47 on Dec 12, 2018.
See the Congressional Research Service's 122-page summary of the bill. * * * H.R. 2 amends and extends major programs for income support, food and ...

Carter voted Nay

Passed 369/53 on Jul 6, 2016.
The Global Food Security Act of 2016 (Pub.L. 114–195), is a law introduced on March 24, 2015 in the 114th Congress by Representative Christopher Henry ...

Carter voted Nay

Passed 370/33 on Apr 12, 2016.

Carter voted Aye

Passed 218/208 on Jun 18, 2015.
This vote made H.R. 2146 the vehicle for passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal currently being negotiated. H.R. ...

Carter voted Yea

Passed 338/88 on May 13, 2015.
The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of ...

Carter voted Nay

Missed Votes

From Jan 2015 to Jun 2021, Carter missed 71 of 3,661 roll call votes, which is 1.9%. This is on par with the median of 2.0% 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: