U.S. Reps. Renee Ellmers (Republican of N.C.’s 2nd Congressional District) and Patrick McHenry (also a Republican representing the 10th Congressional District) topped North Carolina’s delegation in new conservative effectiveness rankings from National Journal.

The publication graded lawmakers on the Republican Party’s so-called “three-legged stool” of public policy: economic, social, and foreign-policy issues.

Democratic Reps. Mel Watt (of the 12th Congressional District) and David Price (of the 4th) scored the poorest in conservative effectiveness.

Here is the complete list of N.C.’s 13-member congressional delegation. The first number after the representative’s name is their overall rank out of the 435 members of the U.S. House. The conservative composite score and the scores on economic, social, and foreign-policy issues are on a 100-percent scale:

  • Renee Ellmers (15th): 91.2 (composite score), 83 (economic), 83 (social), 91 (foreign)
  • Patrick McHenry (20th): 90.3 (composite score), 90 (economic), 83 (social), 84 (foreign)
  • Virginia Foxx (62nd): 81.5 (composite score), 83 (economic), 74 (social), 75 (foreign)
  • Sue Myrick (76th): 79.8 (composite score), 90 (economic), 70 (social), 74 (foreign)
  • Howard Coble (166th): 65.3 (composite score), 59 (economic), 83 (social), 45 (foreign)
  • Mike McIntyre (243rd): 43.8 (composite score), 43 (economic), 44 (social), 44 (foreign)
  • Walter Jones (251st): 41.5 (composite score), 44 (economic), 46 (social), 33 (foreign)
  • Heath Shuler (253rd): 40.8 (composite score), 41 (economic), 44 (social), 37 (foreign)
  • Larry Kissell (253rd): 40.8 (composite score), 39 (economic), 40 (social), 43 (foreign)
  • Brad Miller (296th): 28.5 (composite score), 25 (economic), 30 (social), 28 (foreign)
  • G.K. Butterfield (299th): 28.3 (composite score), 28 (economic), 27 (social), 28 (foreign)
  • David Price (318th): 25.2 (composite score), 25 (economic), 22 (social), 27 (foreign)
  • Mel Watt (380th): 12 (composite score), 9 (economic), 0 (social), 16 (foreign)

One note: Shuler and Kissell’s identical rank isn’t a typo. It’s just the way NJ orchestrated their ranking structure.

It is interesting that McIntyre (a Democrat) scored better than Jones (a Republican), though by a slight margin. That was because of Jones’ less conservative (or, perhaps more appropriately, less Republican) approach to foreign policy.