Anti-gun control, anti-abortion, anti-illegal immigration — the three policy points Rep. Kat Cammack took all the way to Washington in her first Congressional campaign two years ago.
The Republican incumbent, who now seeks reelection as the representative for Florida’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House, often voted with her Republican colleagues in her first term but broke away in notable moments. The Alligator looked into some of Cammack’s most notable legislative moments before she faces Democratic challenger Danielle Hawk in the Nov. 8 election.
None of the 12 bills Cammack proposed in her first term made it to law, with most sitting in subcommittees. Her Proposed legislation included attempts to tighten U.S. borders, quicken approvals to export natural gas and raise awareness of human trafficking.
The Justified Action for Securing Our Nation Act moved to strengthen the powers of the Secretary of Homeland Security’s powers to mitigate surges in immigration, and the Keep Kids in Schools Act aimed to block funding to any school that paused in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both await further action in subcommittees.
Cammack’s campaign is doubling down on the platform that it ran two years ago, Adeline Sandridge, the campaign’s communications director, wrote in an email. She highlighted Cammack’s work against human trafficking and government spending, writing Cammack would take these platform points to Washington again if reelected.
“We’re committed to delivering on the issues the American people care most about—bringing down inflation, securing the border, protecting our constitutional freedoms, and fighting crime,” Sandridge wrote. “The last two years of this administration have only showed us that we need to return to the basics and to the core principles of limited government and constitutional freedoms.”
Cammack’s firmly planted in the middle of the Republican pack in terms of legislative efficiency, according to GovTrack’s Ideology-Leadership chart. Her record of sponsored and cosponsored bills leans right, but she’s voted against the Republican majority 10% of the time, ranking her 52nd out of 435 representatives in voting against their party.
Cammack voted to pass the Respect For Marriage Act, which moves to legally recognize same-sex and interracial marriages and currently awaits a Senate vote. She also voted to repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, which retroactively opposes U.S. military presence in Iraq and awaits a Senate vote.
Cammack voted no on the Women’s Health Protection Act, which attempted to secure nationwide abortion access before it failed in the U.S. Senate. She and every other House Republican also voted no on the Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated more than $740 billion in federal funds to mitigate the effects of inflation through avenues like domestic energy production and the Affordable Care Act.
More no votes from Cammack came with the Mental Health Matters Act, which aimed to allocate more national funding to mental health programs, and the Whistleblower Protection Act, which seeks to bolster protections in identity and employment for federal workers who alert officials of wrongdoing.
The National Rifle Association graded Cammack an A for her votes on gun legislation, though the League of Conservation Voters graded her a 0% due to her votes on environmental policy.
Cammack currently dwarfs Hawk in campaign contributions, according to campaign finance data. Her $2 million in contributions far surpass Hawk’s $76,500.
Contact Heather Bushman at hbushman@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.
Heather Bushman is a fourth-year journalism and political science student and the enterprise elections reporter. She previously wrote and edited for the Avenue desk and reported for WUFT News. You can usually find her writing, listening to music or writing about listening to music. Ask her about synesthesia or her album tier list sometime.
