RightDataUSA


Leonard Boswell

[Congressional biography]

Born: January 10, 1934 in Harrison County, MO
Died: August 17, 2018 in Des Moines, IA

Education:

  • Graceland College, B.A., 1969

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1956-1976

Career:

  • Farmer
  • Director of farm cooperative, 1979-1993

Elected Office:

  • IA Senate, 1984-1996 (President, 1992-1996)


Election Results for Leonard Boswell


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1986 52 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 2 10,185 47.9%
1994 60 IA D Lt. Governor General 2 0 0.0%
1996 62 IA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 15,349 58.2%
1996 62 IA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 115,914 49.4%
1998 64 IA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 24,860 99.7%
1998 64 IA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 107,947 56.9%
2000 66 IA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 20,204 99.5%
2000 66 IA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 156,327 62.8%
2002 68 IA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 21,623 100.0%
2002 68 IA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 115,367 53.4%
2004 70 IA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 9,882 100.0%
2004 70 IA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 168,007 55.2%
2006 72 IA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 31,602 100.0%
2006 72 IA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 115,769 51.9%
2008 74 IA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 20,401 61.0%
2008 74 IA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 176,904 56.4%
2010 76 IA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 13,107 100.0%
2010 76 IA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 122,147 50.7%
2012 78 IA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 8,382 98.3%
2012 78 IA D U.S. House District 03 General 2 168,632 43.6%


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



Ideology Data for Leonard Boswell


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
1997 63 House 75 25 72 28 D 73 27 99 65 28
1998 64 House 93 7 65 35 D 65 35 99 65 36
1999 65 House 70 30 D 61 37 99 70 32
2000 66 House 66 30 D 50 44 96 55 42
2001 67 House 78 22 R 37 63 99 85 24
2002 68 House 81 19 R 46 54 99 80 32
2003 69 House 83 15 R 40 56 98 80 27
2004 70 House 82 17 R 36 61 98 80 20
2005 71 House 71 16 R 33 50 79 92 32
2006 72 House 78 22 R 50 50 99 70 44
2007 73 House 93 7 R 5 95 99 90 8
2008 74 House 87 2 R 17 71 88 95 4
2009 75 House 94 4 D 97 3 97 100 0
2010 76 House 97 3 D 93 7 98 90 0
2011 77 House 81 19 D 71 27 99 75 12
2012 78 House 79 21 D 54 46 99 40 28
Lifetime conservative rating:   23%


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.