RightDataUSA


Don Bailey

[Congressional biography]

Born: July 21, 1945 in Pittsburgh, PA
Died: March 9, 2020 in Harrisburg, PA

Education:

  • University of Michigan, B.A., 1967
  • Duquesne University, J.D., 1976

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1967-1970 (Vietnam)

Career:

  • Lawyer

Elected Office:

  • PA Auditor, 1985-1989
  • Candidate for PA Auditor, 1990, 1992


Election Results for Don Bailey


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1978 32 PA D U.S. House District 21 Primary 1 16,671 22.6%
1978 32 PA D U.S. House District 21 General 1 73,712 52.9%
1980 34 PA D U.S. House District 21 Primary 1 48,337 59.9%
1980 34 PA D U.S. House District 21 General 1 112,427 68.4%
1982 36 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 2 23,685 38.3%
1984 38 PA D Auditor Primary 1 593,722 55.2%
1984 38 PA D Auditor General 1 2,289,308 51.0%
1986 40 PA D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 2 408,460 44.7%
1988 42 PA D Auditor General 2 2,065,857 48.5%
1992 46 PA D Auditor Primary 3 219,530 20.4%
1998 52 PA D Governor Primary 2 200,451 38.5%


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



Ideology Data for Don Bailey


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
1979 33 House 55 45 69 31 D 52 48 99 37 36
1980 34 House 44 56 86 14 D 79 21 99 50 21
1981 35 House 67 32 70 27 R 51 46 97 40 33
1982 36 House 56 44 82 16 R 55 44 97 55 41
Lifetime conservative rating:   34%


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.