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Rep. Joe Wilson’s 2019 Report Card

Representative from South Carolina's 2nd District
Republican
Serving Dec 18, 2001 – Jan 3, 2025

These year-end statistics cover Wilson’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.

A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of Wilson’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.

Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.

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Introduced the most bills compared to South Carolina Delegation

Wilson introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (49th percentile); House Republicans (78th percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the most often compared to South Carolina Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 192 bills that Wilson cosponsored, 48% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (80th percentile); House Republicans (60th percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Ranked the 2nd top leader compared to House Republicans

Our unique leadership analysis looks at who is cosponsoring whose bills. A higher score shows a greater ability to get cosponsors on bills.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Wilson’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); House Republicans (99th percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile).

 

Got the 3rd most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Republicans

Wilson’s bills and resolutions had 565 cosponsors in 2019. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills »

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); House Republicans (98th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile).

 

Ranked 14th most politically right compared to Serving 10+ Years

Our unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Wilson’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); House Republicans (66th percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 14th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 2 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 12 of Wilson’s 15 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Wilson caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); House Republicans (92nd percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Cosponsored the 49th most bills compared to House Republicans (tied with 1 other)

Wilson cosponsored 192 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (71st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); House Republicans (75th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Wilson introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 553: Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (43rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (53rd percentile); House Republicans (69th percentile); All Representatives (63rd percentile).

The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Wilson introduced 3 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 553: Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act; H.R. 554: Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform …; H.R. 4802: To amend the State Department …

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (57th percentile); House Republicans (86th percentile); All Representatives (66th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

2 of Wilson’s bills and resolutions in 2019 had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward.

Those bills were: H.Res. 569: Recognizing the 111th anniversary of …; H.R. 553: Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Republicans (62nd percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Wilson’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: H.R. 5408: Ukraine Religious Freedom Support Act

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (29th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Republicans (30th percentile); All Representatives (19th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Committee Positions

Wilson held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Wilson’s Profile »

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (71st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Republicans (44th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Wilson missed 3.1% of votes (22 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Wilson’s Profile »

Compare to all South Carolina Delegation (43rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (71st percentile); All Representatives (70th percentile).

The Speaker of the House, per current House rules, is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings” and is never recorded as missing a vote, and may not be included in the comparison with other representatives if not voting. The delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are not eligible to vote in most roll call votes and so may not appear here if not elligible for any vote during the time period of these statistics.

Additional Notes

Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.

Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).

Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.

Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.