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Rep. Richard Hudson

House Republican Conference Secretary and Representative for North Carolina’s 8th District

pronounced RI-cherd // HUD-sun

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Hudson is the representative for North Carolina’s 8th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Hudson is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.

He is also House Republican Conference Secretary, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.

Hudson is among the Republican legislators whose call to disenfranchise Democratic states in the 2020 presidential election was a part of the months-long attempted coup that included the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. Shortly after the 2020 election, Hudson 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 based on lies, conspiracy theories, and a preposterous legal argument which the Supreme Court rejected. Following the rejection of several related cases before the Supreme Court, another legislator who joined the case called for violence. On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the attack on the Capitol, Hudson voted for the exclusion of all of the votes in Arizona and/or Pennsylvania — states narrowly won by Democrats — from the Electoral College count that determined the next President of the United States. These legislators have generally changed their story after their vote, claiming it was merely a protest and not intended to change the outcome of the election as they clearly sought prior to the vote.
Photo of Rep. Richard Hudson [R-NC8]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 Report Card for Hudson.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Hudson 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 Hudson has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jul 27, 2021. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

The Club for Growth: 84% United States Chamber of Commerce: 83% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: D League of Conservation Voters: 2% Human Rights Campaign: 0% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 0%

Committee Membership

Richard Hudson sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Hudson was the primary sponsor of 8 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 8 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

Hudson sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (31%) Armed Forces and National Security (24%) Taxation (11%) Government Operations and Politics (9%) Crime and Law Enforcement (9%) Energy (9%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%)

Recent Bills

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

View All » | View Cosponsors »

As House Republican Conference Secretary, Hudson may be focused on his responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting his party, and brokering deals.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Hudson voted Yea

Hudson voted Yea

Hudson voted Nay

Passed 366/52 on Jul 25, 2018.
The House Amendment to S. 1182 extends the National Flood Insurance Program, which is set to expire July 31, 2018, through November 30, 2018. This ...

Hudson 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 ...

Hudson voted Yea

Passed 219/206 on Dec 11, 2014.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 [pdf], which was approved by the House on December ...

Hudson voted Aye

Missed Votes

From Jan 2013 to Jul 2021, Hudson missed 274 of 4,936 roll call votes, which is 5.6%. 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: