Scott DesJarlais, Representative for Tennessee's 4th Congressional District

DesJarlais is the representative for Tennessee’s 4^th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 5, 2011. DesJarlais is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.

DesJarlais is among the Republican legislators who participated in the months-long attempted coup that included the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. Shortly after the 2020 election, DesJarlais 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 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. Many legislators were a part of a coordinated campaign by the Trump Administration to pressure the Vice President, who was also the vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket, to exclude Democratic states from the electoral count rather than follow the Constitution's procedure in which Congress may vote to exclude electors. On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the attack on the Capitol, DesJarlais voted to reject the state-certified election results of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania (states narrowly won by Democrats), which would have excluded them from the Electoral College count that determined the next President of the United States and potentially changed the outcome of the election. 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.

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

DesJarlais 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 DesJarlais has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 25, 2022. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Scott DesJarlais sits on the following committees:

House Committee on Agriculture

Conservation and Forestry, Livestock and Foreign Agriculture, Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations subcommittees
House Committee on Armed Services

Strategic Forces, Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittees

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

DesJarlais sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Armed Forces and National Security (35%) Animals (18%) Government Operations and Politics (18%) Health (18%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (12%)

Recently Introduced Bills

DesJarlais recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

DesJarlais voted Nay

S. 475: Juneteenth National Independence Day Act

Passed 415/14 on Jun 16, 2021.

DesJarlais voted Nay

H.R. 133: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 [Including Coronavirus Stimulus & Relief]

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 …

DesJarlais voted Nay

H.R. 2048: Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015

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 …

DesJarlais voted Nay

H.R. 83 (113th): Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015

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 …

DesJarlais voted Nay

H.R. 4681 (113th): Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015

Passed 325/100 on Dec 10, 2014.

DesJarlais voted Not Voting

H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015

Passed 319/108 on Sep 17, 2014.

DesJarlais voted Nay

S. 2183 (113th): A bill entitled “United States International Programming to Ukraine and Neighboring Regions”.

Passed 399/12 on Apr 1, 2014.

DesJarlais voted Nay

H.R. 1843 (112th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 489 Army Drive in Barrigada, …

Passed 414/3 on Jul 30, 2011.

DesJarlais voted No

H.R. 2560 (112th): Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011

Passed 234/190 on Jul 19, 2011.

DesJarlais voted Aye

H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.

The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack …

Missed Votes

From Jan 2011 to Jan 2022, DesJarlais missed 340 of 6,762 roll call votes, which is 5.0%. 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...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
2011 Jan-Mar	212	1	0.5%	22^nd
2011 Apr-Jun	281	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Jul-Sep	247	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Oct-Dec	208	1	0.5%	15^th
2012 Jan-Mar	151	0	0.0%	0^th
2012 Apr-Jun	299	1	0.3%	14^th
2012 Jul-Sep	152	6	3.9%	77^th
2012 Nov-Dec	51	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Jan	5	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	89	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Apr-Jun	215	5	2.3%	55^th
2013 Jul-Sep	200	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Oct-Dec	137	4	2.9%	62^nd
2014 Jan-Mar	148	7	4.7%	74^th
2014 Apr-Jun	219	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Jul-Sep	147	137	93.2%	100^th
2014 Nov-Dec	49	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jan-Mar	144	4	2.8%	58^th
2015 Apr-Jun	244	12	4.9%	84^th
2015 Jul-Sep	139	1	0.7%	31^st
2015 Oct-Dec	177	3	1.7%	60^th
2016 Jan-Mar	137	4	2.9%	49^th
2016 Apr-Jun	204	3	1.5%	40^th
2016 Jul-Sep	232	42	18.1%	97^th
2016 Nov-Dec	48	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	208	7	3.4%	74^th
2017 Apr-Jun	136	1	0.7%	31^st
2017 Jul-Sep	199	1	0.5%	36^th
2017 Oct-Dec	167	22	13.2%	97^th
2018 Jan-Mar	129	3	2.3%	51^st
2018 Apr-Jun	184	9	4.9%	72^nd
2018 Jul-Sep	102	2	2.0%	55^th
2018 Nov-Dec	85	7	8.2%	83^rd
2019 Jan-Mar	136	15	11.0%	96^th
2019 Apr-Jun	294	8	2.7%	74^th
2019 Jul-Sep	125	2	1.6%	71^st
2019 Oct-Dec	146	1	0.7%	28^th
2020 Jan-Mar	102	7	6.9%	80^th
2020 Apr-Jun	31	5	16.1%	90^th
2020 Jul-Sep	80	5	6.2%	82^nd
2020 Oct-Dec	40	6	15.0%	84^th
2021 Jan-Mar	97	1	1.0%	41^st
2021 Apr-Jun	107	1	0.9%	41^st
2021 Jul-Sep	108	1	0.9%	36^th
2021 Oct-Dec	137	4	2.9%	84^th
2022 Jan-Jan	14	1	7.1%	89^th

Primary Sources

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

unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
GPO Member Guide for the photo
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills

Rep. Scott DesJarlais

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Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Committee Membership

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Recently Introduced Bills

Voting Record

Key Votes

DesJarlais voted Nay

DesJarlais voted Nay

DesJarlais voted Nay

DesJarlais voted Nay

DesJarlais voted Nay

DesJarlais voted Not Voting

DesJarlais voted Nay

DesJarlais voted Nay

DesJarlais voted No

DesJarlais voted Aye

Missed Votes

Primary Sources