RightDataUSA


Thomas Bliley

[Congressional biography]

Born: January 28, 1932 in Chesterfield County, VA
Died: November 16, 2023 in Richmond, VA

Education:

  • Georgetown University, B.A., 1952

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1952-1955

Career:

  • Funeral home director, 1955-1980

Elected Office:

  • Richmond city council, 1968-1977
  • Vice-Mayor of Richmond, 1968-1970
  • Mayor of Richmond, 1970-1977


Election Results for Thomas Bliley


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1980 48 VA R U.S. House District 03 General 1 96,524 51.6%
1982 50 VA R U.S. House District 03 General 1 92,928 59.2%
1984 52 VA R U.S. House District 03 General 1 169,987 85.6%
1986 54 VA R U.S. House District 03 General 1 74,525 67.0%
1988 56 VA R U.S. House District 03 General 1 187,354 99.7%
1990 58 VA R U.S. House District 03 General 1 77,125 65.3%
1992 60 VA R U.S. House District 07 General 1 211,618 82.9%
1994 62 VA R U.S. House District 07 General 1 176,941 84.0%
1996 64 VA R U.S. House District 07 General 1 189,644 75.1%
1998 66 VA R U.S. House District 07 General 1 77,044 78.7%


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



Ideology Data for Thomas Bliley


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
1981 49 House 89 9 88 11 R 75 25 97 0 92
1982 50 House 97 3 92 5 R 86 13 97 0 95
1983 51 House 96 3 87 10 R 85 12 97 5 95
1984 52 House 88 8 82 14 R 74 25 95 5 83
1985 53 House 87 13 83 15 R 74 26 99 5 79
1986 54 House 94 6 82 16 R 69 30 97 5 73
1987 55 House 91 7 86 12 R 70 29 98 4 96
1988 56 House 89 8 86 11 R 61 38 98 10 96
1989 57 House 100 0 88 9 R 80 17 98 0 96
1990 58 House 91 7 84 13 R 66 34 98 18 83
1991 59 House 97 0 88 9 R 81 19 98 0 95
1992 60 House 94 4 89 8 R 86 13 98 15 96
1993 61 House 100 0 90 8 D 38 61 99 5 100
1994 62 House 92 3 91 7 D 44 55 98 0 100
1995 63 House 99 1 95 3 D 21 79 97 0 80
1996 64 House 96 0 92 6 D 33 65 97 0 100
1997 65 House 89 2 90 6 D 29 71 98 5 75
1998 66 House 93 7 93 6 D 23 77 99 0 100
1999 67 House 93 6 D 26 74 97 0 83
2000 68 House 86 6 D 28 64 93 0 83
Lifetime conservative rating:   90%


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.