RightDataUSA


John Ashcroft

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 9, 1942 in Chicago, IL

Education:

  • Yale University, B.A., 1964
  • University of Chicago, J.D., 1967

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Assistant MO Attorney General, 1975-1976

Elected Office:

  • MO Auditor, 1973-1975
  • MO Attorney General, 1976-1985
  • U.S. Attorney General, 2001-2005


Election Results for John Ashcroft


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 30 MO R U.S. House District 07 Primary 2 37,283 44.7%
1974 32 MO R Auditor Primary 1 145,041 100.0%
1974 32 MO R Auditor General 2 562,564 46.9%
1976 34 MO R Attorney General Primary 1 266,127 100.0%
1976 34 MO R Attorney General General 1 961,782 51.2%
1980 38 MO R Attorney General Primary 1 315,213 100.0%
1980 38 MO R Attorney General General 1 1,298,741 64.5%
1984 42 MO R Governor Primary 1 245,308 67.5%
1984 42 MO R Governor General 1 1,194,506 56.7%
1988 46 MO R Governor Primary 1 306,335 100.0%
1988 46 MO R Governor General 1 1,339,531 64.2%
1994 52 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 260,065 83.2%
1994 52 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,060,149 59.7%
2000 58 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 327,442 89.6%
2000 58 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 2 1,142,852 48.4%


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



Ideology Data for John Ashcroft


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
1995 53 Senate 96 2 97 2 D 24 76 98 0 91
1996 54 Senate 89 11 97 2 D 29 69 99 5 100
1997 55 Senate 96 4 99 1 D 51 49 99 0 100
1998 56 Senate 75 25 98 2 D 24 76 99 5 100
1999 57 Senate 96 4 97 3 D 40 60 99 0 100
2000 58 Senate 94 6 92 6 D 45 55 96 5 96
Lifetime conservative rating:   98%


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.