RightDataUSA


Don Bonker

[Congressional biography]

Born: March 7, 1937 in Denver, CO
Died: May 30, 2023 in Silverdale, WA

Education:

  • Clark College, A.A., 1962
  • Lewis and Clark College, B.A., 1964

Military Service:

  • U.S. Coast Guard, 1955-1959

Career:

  • Clark County auditor, 1966-1974

Elected Office:

  • Candidate for WA Secretary of State, 1972


Election Results for Don Bonker


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 35 WA D Secretary of State District SOS Open Primary 2 642,941 45.9%
1972 35 WA D Secretary of State District SOS General 2 642,941 45.9%
1974 37 WA D U.S. House District 03 Open Primary 1 24,234 27.9%
1974 37 WA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 93,980 60.9%
1976 39 WA D U.S. House District 03 Open Primary 1 87,398 75.2%
1976 39 WA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 145,198 70.8%
1978 41 WA D U.S. House District 03 Open Primary 1 63,997 69.8%
1978 41 WA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 82,616 58.6%
1980 43 WA D U.S. House District 03 Open Primary 1 88,001 59.6%
1980 43 WA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 155,906 62.7%
1982 45 WA D U.S. House District 03 Open Primary 1 48,985 63.5%
1982 45 WA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 97,323 60.1%
1984 47 WA D U.S. House District 03 Open Primary 1 72,811 73.0%
1984 47 WA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 150,432 71.1%
1986 49 WA D U.S. House District 03 Open Primary 1 60,870 75.4%
1986 49 WA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 114,775 73.6%
1988 51 WA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Open Primary 3 241,170 25.8%
1992 55 WA D U.S. Senate Class 3 Open Primary 3 208,321 18.5%
2000 63 WA D Secretary of State District SOS Open Primary 2 239,843 21.2%
2000 63 WA D Secretary of State District SOS General 2 1,063,689 46.6%


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



Ideology Data for Don Bonker


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
1975 38 House 16 81 86 10 R 33 60 95 95 11
1976 39 House 22 66 77 14 R 27 67 88 75 22
1977 40 House 16 72 79 9 D 63 23 86 83 6
1978 41 House 18 65 73 10 D 71 16 83 68 15
1979 42 House 22 68 78 6 D 72 17 83 89 6
1980 43 House 20 67 78 9 D 67 22 81 83 11
1981 44 House 37 57 70 16 R 37 57 85 84 17
1982 45 House 33 58 79 10 R 39 55 88 78 35
1983 46 House 18 80 84 7 R 23 71 90 79 5
1984 47 House 27 63 78 11 R 38 57 89 76 17
1985 48 House 18 73 81 6 R 23 64 87 85 16
1986 49 House 34 58 80 7 R 23 70 87 79 10
1987 50 House 28 56 82 6 R 18 76 89 96 9
1988 51 House 26 68 77 6 R 23 63 82 100 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   12%


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.