# Houston Gaines

Houston Gaines is a Republican member of the Georgia House for district 120.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Georgia House, district 120
- Serving since: 2023-01-09
- Current term: GA 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/e73cb2a6-bf3e-4211-a386-142c18a4f607

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/e73cb2a6-bf3e-4211-a386-142c18a4f607 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Gaines sits at +0.54 on the CSIP scale, more conservative than 79% of State House Republicans.

## What Gaines says (GA 2025–26 session)

353 classified statements: 353 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State House Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Gaines | State House Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 1.4% | 2.9% | 352 of 791 |
| Policy criticism | 4.5% | 9.3% | 472 of 791 |
| Policy discussion | 26.4% | 31.9% | 465 of 791 |
| Bipartisanship | 0.9% | 1.8% | 434 of 791 |
| Credit claiming | 17.0% | 12.7% | 237 of 791 |
| Extreme labels | 2.3% | 1.4% | 175 of 791 |

Most discussed policy areas: Government Operations and Politics 31% (State House Republicans 18%); Crime and Law Enforcement 23% (State House Republicans 11%); Immigration 16% (State House Republicans 4.7%); Taxation 8.6% (State House Republicans 8.1%); Health 7.5% (State House Republicans 10%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.54 (standard error 0.02), from 1,295 donors and 999 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 79% of State House Republicans score lower.

## Votes (GA 2025–26 session)

1,391 roll calls. Attendance 97.9% (Georgia House 93.5%). Party unity 100% (97.2%). 36 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-06-23 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 78 Tifton, City of; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB78/
- 2026-06-23 · voted yea · PASSAGE · SB 3 Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee; establish · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/SB3/
- 2026-06-23 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 78 Tifton, City of; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB78/
- 2026-06-23 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 78 Tifton, City of; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB78/
- 2026-06-22 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 61 Twiggs County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB61/
- 2026-06-22 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 30 Early County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB30/
- 2026-06-22 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 30 Early County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB30/
- 2026-06-20 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 30 Early County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB30/
- 2026-06-20 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 61 Twiggs County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB61/
- 2026-04-03 · voted yea · House Vote #880 - 2025-2026 Regular Session · HB 1409 Domestic relations; revise mandated reporting of child abuse · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HB1409/

## Legislation (GA 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 87 bills: 71 reached committee, 57 passed one chamber, 22 passed both, 19 became law. Cosponsored 0. 65.5% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Georgia House 65.7%; rank 100 of 177).

Recent sponsored bills:

- HR 2080: ODYSSEY Media Group, the iliad Literary-Art Magazine, and David A. Ragsdale for over 23 years of journalistic excellence, student creativity, and outstanding… (passed one chamber, 2026-03-31) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR2080/
- HR 1988: Chronic federal deficit spending as a root cause of inflation and long-term economic instability; recognize (passed one chamber, 2026-03-27) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1988/
- HB 1606: Crimes; offense of disruption of a worship service; provide (introduced, 2026-04-02) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HB1606/
- HR 1943: Mayor Nancy Denson Interchange; Clarke County; dedicate (introduced, 2026-03-31) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1943/
- HR 1942: Dan Magill Memorial Intersection; Clarke County; dedicate (introduced, 2026-03-31) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1942/
- HB 1595: Clarke County; school district ad valorem tax; revise how income cap is calculated (became law, 2026-05-12) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HB1595/
- HR 1804: Whittenburg, George Allen, III; honoring the life and memory; condolences (passed one chamber, 2026-03-19) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1804/
- HR 1792: Georgia Department of Community Affairs; refrain from adopting the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code for residential construction; urge (in committee, 2026-03-25) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1792/
- HB 1586: Bogart, Town of; provide new charter (passed one chamber, 2026-03-27) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HB1586/
- HB 1578: Arcade, Town of; municipality; clarify name (became law, 2026-05-11) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HB1578/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $43.0K (State House Republicans median $33.7K). 94% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-10-25 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2114480931696255300
- 2026-10-24 · Post on X · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2113985331674615843
- 2026-10-24 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2114002000992202764
- 2026-10-23 · Post on X · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2113450244532797787
- 2026-10-21 · Post on X · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2113053694094619050
- 2026-10-20 · Post on X · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2112352025644032403
- 2026-10-18 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2111869116936049062
- 2026-10-17 · Post on X · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2111274451505397774
- 2026-10-16 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2110891549408034992
- 2026-10-13 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/houstongaines/status/2109810881118748958

## Links

- Official site: https://www.legis.ga.gov/members/house/4955?session=1031
- Campaign site: https://www.houstongaines.com/
- X: https://x.com/houstongaines
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/houstongaines
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/houstongaines/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/houstongaines/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/e73cb2a6-bf3e-4211-a386-142c18a4f607