RightDataUSA


David Boren

[Congressional biography]

Born: April 21, 1941 in Washington, D.C.

Education:

  • Yale University, B.A., 1963
  • Rhodes Scholar, Oxford University, 1965
  • University of Oklahoma, J.D., 1968

Military Service:

  • OK National Guard, 1968-1974

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Professor/department chairman at Oklahoma Baptist University, 1970-1974
  • President of University of Oklahoma, 1994-2018

Elected Office:

  • OK House, 1967-1975
  • Resigned from Congress on November 15, 1994

Other notes:

  • Son of Lyle Boren, father of Dan Boren


Election Results for David Boren


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1974 33 OK D Governor Primary 2 225,321 35.6%
1974 33 OK D Governor Primary Runoff 1 286,171 53.5%
1974 33 OK D Governor General 1 514,389 63.9%
1978 37 OK D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 252,560 45.8%
1978 37 OK D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary Runoff 1 281,587 60.5%
1978 37 OK D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 493,953 65.5%
1984 43 OK D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 432,534 89.9%
1984 43 OK D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 906,131 75.6%
1990 49 OK D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 445,969 84.3%
1990 49 OK D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 735,684 83.2%


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



Ideology Data for David Boren


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 38 Senate 81 10 33 59 D 47 47 94 17 65
1980 39 Senate 76 18 46 49 D 53 45 94 29 71
1981 40 Senate 86 10 54 40 R 60 35 95 32 60
1982 41 Senate 87 10 52 42 R 60 38 94 47 83
1983 42 Senate 73 25 60 35 R 41 56 96 58 54
1984 43 Senate 91 0 41 53 R 62 29 90 44 71
1985 44 Senate 75 18 52 39 R 47 45 92 47 53
1986 45 Senate 92 4 42 54 R 67 30 94 42 67
1987 46 Senate 91 3 60 32 R 46 46 92 39 63
1988 47 Senate 81 11 59 30 R 63 31 86 28 48
1989 48 Senate 71 24 51 46 R 77 20 97 30 64
1990 49 Senate 76 22 58 34 R 58 39 92 56 23
1991 50 Senate 75 20 65 33 R 60 40 99 47 45
1992 51 Senate 71 21 58 34 R 33 55 90 67 36
1993 52 Senate 63 37 79 20 D 87 10 99 70 33
1994 53 Senate 53 44 73 18 D 82 13 91 67 12
Lifetime conservative rating:   52%


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.