The voting records of local lawmakers Casey Snider (left) and Mike Petersen (right) have earned kudos from a analysis by the Center for Legislative Accountability, a project of the influential Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
ALEXANDRIA, VA. – Two local lawmakers are receiving kudos on their voting records from the influential Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
According to an analysis of 8,000 state legislators’ voting records by the Center for Legislative Accountability (CLA), Utah Representatives Mike Petersen (R-North Logan) and Casey Snider (R-Paradise) earned the group’s highest ranking.
The pair was among five Utah lawmakers who received the CLA’s Award for Conservative Excellence.
The other recipients from Utah were Representatives Ryan Wilcox (R-Ogden), Mark Strong (R-Salt Lake City) and Adam Robertson (R-Provo).
The conservative rating is calculated through the CLA’s scorecards and is based on lawmakers’ voting across 186 policy areas ranging from cultural to life issues as well as tax, fiscal and regulatory policies.
Overall, the Utah Legislature earned a conservative rating of 64 percent in 2021, a significant increase over its ranking in 2020 (52.5 percent) and the national average of 49 percent.
On that same scale, Petersen earned a ranking of 93 percent and Snider earned 90 percent.
The CLA is the first and only organization to annually publish individual ratings for all 8,000 federal and state lawmakers in America.
The CLA is also home to the nation’s most comprehensive conservative database, containing over 17,500 detailed bill analyses which span 50 years of Congress and all 50 state legislatures.
Petersen is in his first-term in the Utah Legislature.
A native of Ogden, he holds degrees in psychology and counseling psychology from Brigham Young University and a doctorate in instruction technology from Utah State University. His career experience includes working as an instructional designer, a consultant and owning his own business.
Petersen will face former state representative Val Potter in the GOP primary on June 28.
Snider was raised in Liberty, Utah. He earned a bachelor’s degree in conservation and constitutional studies from Utah State University and a master’s degree in environmental science and policy from Johns Hopkins University.
He served as a legislative director for former U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) and on the staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources in Washington, D.C.
In 2018, Snider became one of the youngest lawmakers in the Utah legislature. He is now running unopposed in Utah’s 5th District.
The CLA found that Utah Senate earned a rating of 63 percent in 2021. The GOP average was 71 percent, compared to an average of 34 percent for Democratic members.
In the House, the CLA reported a rating of 65 percent, with Republicans earning a rating of 77 percent, compared to a Democratic average of 24 percent.
The annual CLA analysis is a project of the CPAC Foundation and American Conservative Union Foundation.
The Center for Legislative Accountability conducts the in-depth study of all 8,000 lawmakers in America, revealing their positions on a wide variety of issues directly affecting American communities and families.