Fact check: Which specific House and Senate Republicans were labeled RINO by the Club for Growth or Heritage Action in 2023 and 2024?

Executive summary — Clear short answer up front: The material provided does not produce a comprehensive, named list of every House and Senate Republican labeled “RINO” by Club for Growth or Heritage Action for 2023 and 2024. The Club for Growth’s 2024 scorecard highlights several Senators with low fiscal scores such as John Cornyn, Thom Tillis and Bill Cassidy, which the Club’s materials and subsequent commentary treat as evidence of being out of step with its agenda ^{[1] [2] [3]}. The Heritage Action items in the dataset are scorecard pages or footers that do not enumerate specific RINO labels or compile party-wide lists in the supplied extracts ^{[4] [5] [6]}. Broader reporting on the term “RINO” shows the label is often applied inconsistently and politically, meaning scorecards and editorial pieces must be read as intentional signals rather than official censures ^{[7] [8]}.

1. Why the Club for Growth scorecard matters — and what it actually says: The Club for Growth Foundation’s 2024 Congressional scorecard is functionally a performance benchmark for how closely lawmakers adhere to the group’s fiscal policy priorities, and low numerical scores are frequently used by allies and opponents to brand legislators as insufficiently conservative. The dataset includes the 2024 Senate scorecard showing several sitting Republicans with significantly sub-90% scores—notably John Cornyn (62%), Thom Tillis (65%), and Bill Cassidy (62%)—and the Club’s public communications frame low scorers as falling short of its economic orthodoxy ^{[1] [2] [3]}. That framing is common political shorthand: score-based criticisms equate poor alignment on key votes with being a “RINO,” but the scorecard itself lists votes and percentages rather than using the specific pejorative label across a named roster.

2. What the Heritage Action extracts in the dataset reveal — and what they omit: The Heritage Action items included in the dataset are scorecard pages or repeated footer content tied to specific key votes, but the provided extracts lack any clear “RINO” designation or an explicit, consolidated list of House or Senate Republicans labeled as such for 2023–2024. The three Heritage Action snippets in the provided material appear to be administrative or page-level text rather than narrative or editorial lists that would name targets ^{[4] [5] [6]}. Heritage Action commonly issues scorecards and grades that are used by commentators to assert disloyalty to conservative priorities, but the supplied pages do not, by themselves, substantiate claims that Heritage Action formally labeled specific Republicans “RINO” in the timeframe in question.

3. Broader press context on the term “RINO” — weaponized and uneven: Reporting and commentary captured in the dataset explain that “RINO” is a weaponized, subjective label used across GOP infighting and is applied inconsistently depending on factional agendas; the broader pieces cite various national figures as illustrative targets but do not supply a formal roster from Club for Growth or Heritage Action ^{[7] [8] [9]}. Journalistic treatments show the term’s usage shifts with intra-party dynamics: some moderate Republicans or those opposing particular Trump-era positions—ranging from Liz Cheney to others in different cycles—have been labeled RINO by opponents, while organized scorecards from groups like Club for Growth and Heritage Action rely on vote tallies and endorsements to justify criticisms. The dataset’s reporting thus supports the idea that labels are political takeaways, not neutral classifications.

4. What can be concluded from the material — precise, limited findings: From the supplied documents and analyses, the only concrete examples tied to Club for Growth’s 2024 output are the Senators with low fiscal scores—Cornyn, Tillis, Cassidy—and references that low scores are used to imply RINO status ^{[1] [2] [3]}. The Heritage Action excerpts in the dataset do not provide named RINO lists for 2023–2024 ^{[4] [5] [6]}. Broader contextual articles show the term’s usage but do not replace a definitive roster compiled by either organization ^{[7] [8] [9]}. Therefore, the claim that specific House and Senate Republicans were labeled RINO by these groups in 2023–2024 is partially supported only where Club for Growth’s scorecard identifies low-scoring Senators; the dataset lacks a comprehensive naming of House members or a formal Heritage Action roster.

5. Where the gaps are and how to fill them if you need a definitive list: The dataset’s limitations are clear: Club for Growth’s numerical scorecards imply RINO branding through low marks ^{[1] [2] [3]}, while the Heritage Action extracts here omit substantive personnel lists ^{[4] [5] [6]}. To produce a definitive, verifiable list you would need to consult the full Club for Growth and Heritage Action scorecard pages, their 2023–2024 press releases, and contemporaneous coverage that cites those releases—then cross-check explicit usage of “RINO” in organizational statements versus external commentary (p1_s1, ^[2], ^[3], ^[4]–^[6], ^[7]–p3_s3). The material provided gives credible starting points but does not itself supply a complete, labeled roster of House and Senate Republicans designated “RINO” by those groups for 2023–2024.