RightDataUSA


James Bilbray

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 19, 1938 in Las Vegas, NV
Died: September 19, 2021

Education:

  • Attended U.N.L.V., 1958-1960
  • American University, A.B., 1962, J.D., 1964

Military Service:

  • NV Army National Guard, 1955-1956 (Reserve, 1957-1963)

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Deputy Clark County district attorney, 1965-1967
  • University of Nevada regent, 1968-1972
  • Las Vegas municipal judge, 1978-1980

Elected Office:

  • NV Senate, 1981-1987

Other notes:

  • Cousin of Brian Blibray



Election Results for James Bilbray


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 34 NV D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 36,525 52.2%
1972 34 NV D U.S. House At-Large District General 2 86,349 47.8%
1974 36 NV D Lt. Governor Primary 2 28,153 37.9%
1986 48 NV D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 16,181 36.2%
1986 48 NV D U.S. House District 01 General 1 61,830 54.1%
1988 50 NV D U.S. House District 01 General 1 101,764 64.0%
1990 52 NV D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 30,747 86.3%
1990 52 NV D U.S. House District 01 General 1 84,650 61.4%
1992 54 NV D U.S. House District 01 General 1 128,278 57.9%
1994 56 NV D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 41,524 77.8%
1994 56 NV D U.S. House District 01 General 2 72,333 47.5%


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




Ideology Data for James Bilbray


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
1987 49 House 67 30 79 17 R 34 66 97 68 26
1988 50 House 68 29 79 16 R 30 67 97 63 44
1989 51 House 78 22 83 17 R 45 53 97 55 25
1990 52 House 63 37 83 15 R 33 67 98 50 25
1991 53 House 78 19 81 16 R 41 54 96 37 40
1992 54 House 67 33 81 19 R 31 68 99 78 30
1993 55 House 68 30 83 16 D 79 21 99 65 21
1994 56 House 75 25 83 15 D 77 23 99 53 33
Lifetime conservative rating:   30%


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.