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Rep. John R. Lewis’s 2019 Report Card

Representative from Georgia's 5th District
Democrat
Served Jan 6, 1987 – Jul 17, 2020

These year-end statistics cover Lewis’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 Lewis’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 Georgia Delegation

Lewis introduced 28 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills »

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (93rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Democrats (81st percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Georgia Delegation

Of the 256 bills that Lewis cosponsored, 5% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (3rd percentile); House Democrats (6th percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile).

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

Wrote the most laws compared to Georgia Delegation (tied with 1 other)

Lewis introduced 2 bills 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. 1957: Taxpayer First Act of 2019; H.R. 3151: Taxpayer First Act

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (81st percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); All Representatives (89th 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.
 

Got bicameral support on the 2nd most bills compared to Georgia Delegation

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 4 of Lewis’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. 1275: Voter Empowerment Act of 2019; H.R. 1794: Segal AmeriCorps Education Award Tax …; H.R. 1957: Taxpayer First Act of 2019; H.R. 4509: To amend the Internal Revenue …

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); House Democrats (67th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

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

Got the 2nd most cosponsors on their bills compared to Georgia Delegation

Lewis’s bills and resolutions had 503 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 Georgia Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); House Democrats (72nd percentile); All Representatives (84th percentile).

 

Ranked 2nd most politically left compared to Georgia Delegation

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 Lewis’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (7th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); House Democrats (19th percentile); All Representatives (11th percentile).

 

Ranked the 2nd top leader compared to Georgia Delegation

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 Lewis’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (86th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); House Democrats (70th percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 19th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 4 others)

10 of Lewis’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. 71: Observing Dr. Martin Luther King, …; H.Res. 501: Expressing the sense of the …; H.R. 1275: Voter Empowerment Act of 2019; H.R. 1298: Higher Education Dream Act of …; H.R. 1957: Taxpayer First Act of 2019; H.R. 2996: Labor, Human, and Civil Rights …; H.R. 3114: Every Child Deserves a Family …; H.R. 3151: Taxpayer First Act; H.R. 3910: Equality in Medicare and Medicaid …; H.R. 5517: Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative Act

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (93rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (87th percentile); House Democrats (91st percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 60th fewest bills compared to House Democrats

Lewis cosponsored 256 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 Georgia Delegation (71st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); House Democrats (25th percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Lewis introduced 2 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1957: Taxpayer First Act of 2019; H.R. 3151: Taxpayer First Act

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (36th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (36th percentile); House Democrats (26th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 8 of Lewis’s 28 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Lewis caucused with in 2019.

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (71st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Democrats (45th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Lewis 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 Lewis’s Profile »

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (29th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (14th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Lewis missed 3.3% of votes (23 of 701 votes) in 2019. View Lewis’s Profile »

Compare to all Georgia Delegation (64th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (73rd percentile); All Representatives (71st 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.