RightDataUSA


James Abdnor

[Congressional biography]

Born: February 13, 1923 in Kennebec, SD
Died: May 16, 2012 in Kennebec, SD

Education:

  • University of Nebraska, B.A., 1945

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1942-1943

Career:

  • Farmer/rancher
  • School teacher/coach
  • Small Business Administration, 1987-1989

Elected Office:

  • SD Senate, 1956-1968


Election Results for James Abdnor


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1968 45 SD R Lt. Governor General 1 149,253 55.8%
1970 47 SD R U.S. House District 02 Primary 2 19,538 47.9%
1972 49 SD R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 31,780 64.7%
1972 49 SD R U.S. House District 02 General 1 79,546 54.9%
1974 51 SD R U.S. House District 02 General 1 88,746 67.8%
1976 53 SD R U.S. House District 02 General 1 99,601 69.9%
1978 55 SD R U.S. House District 02 General 1 70,780 56.0%
1980 57 SD R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 68,196 86.6%
1980 57 SD R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 190,594 58.2%
1986 63 SD R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 63,414 54.5%
1986 63 SD R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 2 143,173 48.4%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for James Abdnor


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
1973 50 House 83 6 76 18 R 61 30 92 9 81
1974 51 House 82 14 72 24 R 58 36 94 4* 63
1975 52 House 90 9 80 17 R 55 44 96 16* 86
1976 53 House 90 6 83 12 R 71 27 95 0 80
1977 54 House 91 2 82 7 D 35 56 88 11 100
1978 55 House 79 8 75 16 D 27 61 92 21 92
1979 56 House 95 4 85 11 D 29 69 96 5 95
1980 57 House 75 6 73 8 D 31 48 78 13 81
1981 58 Senate 92 5 82 17 R 79 19 98 5 67
1982 59 Senate 96 2 88 10 R 78 17 97 10 63
1983 60 Senate 93 7 88 12 R 80 19 99 5 63
1984 61 Senate 100 0 92 7 R 88 10 97 11 82
1985 62 Senate 90 8 77 22 R 77 23 99 0 76
1986 63 Senate 83 16 72 26 R 73 27 98 5 75
Lifetime conservative rating:   81%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.