RightDataUSA


John Breaux

[Congressional biography]

Born: March 1, 1944 in Crowley, LA

Education:

  • University of SW Louisiana, B.A., 1964
  • Louisiana State University, J.D., 1967

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Assistant to Rep. Eddie Edwards, 1968-1972


Election Results for John Breaux


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 28 LA D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 49,670 42.3%
1972 28 LA D U.S. House District 07 Primary Runoff 1 64,021 55.3%
1972 28 LA D U.S. House District 07 General 1 71,901 100.0%
1974 30 LA D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 71,848 87.5%
1974 30 LA D U.S. House District 07 General 1 59,406 89.3%
1976 32 LA D U.S. House District 07 General 1 117,196 83.3%
1978 34 LA D U.S. House District 07 General 1 78,297 60.4%
1980 36 LA D U.S. House District 07 General 1 0 0.0%
1982 38 LA D U.S. House District 07 General 1 62,722 79.0%
1984 40 LA D U.S. House District 07 General 1 98,674 86.2%
1986 42 LA D U.S. Senate Class 3 Open Primary 2 447,328 37.4%
1986 42 LA D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 723,528 52.8%
1992 48 LA D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 616,021 73.1%
1998 54 LA D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 620,502 64.0%


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



Ideology Data for John Breaux


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
1972 28 House 100 0 0 100 R 60 20 91 0 0
1973 29 House 57 23 52 33 R 37 45 81 38 55
1974 30 House 74 17 44 49 R 72 23 87 18 71
1975 31 House 77 15 43 49 R 55 40 93 11 58
1976 32 House 80 11 32 57 R 53 39 89 10 73
1977 33 House 76 13 39 48 D 39 44 89 0 69
1978 34 House 80 5 19 67 D 25 54 80 5 92
1979 35 House 76 8 35 51 D 37 50 80 6 76
1980 36 House 72 21 58 35 D 58 32 88 11 37
1981 37 House 63 7 35 42 R 61 24 77 0 70
1982 38 House 64 14 44 42 R 58 27 83 16 71
1983 39 House 85 9 41 50 R 52 40 89 20 73
1984 40 House 80 8 49 36 R 50 38 83 15 55
1985 41 House 89 5 53 36 R 49 44 89 35 58
1986 42 House 32 0 24 11 R 21 28 31 67 63
1987 43 Senate 81 19 84 15 R 42 58 99 70 19
1988 44 Senate 92 5 73 25 R 61 36 94 50 44
1989 45 Senate 87 13 62 38 R 71 28 99 40 29
1990 46 Senate 95 5 68 31 R 57 41 99 33 39
1991 47 Senate 83 13 59 37 R 65 33 95 30 57
1992 48 Senate 76 21 69 29 R 42 58 97 63 31
1993 49 Senate 80 17 78 20 D 84 13 98 42 24
1994 50 Senate 78 22 74 21 D 81 15 95 55 17
1995 51 Senate 93 5 73 26 D 76 23 99 70 22
1996 52 Senate 82 16 69 29 D 76 22 99 60 20
1997 53 Senate 100 0 65 35 D 81 19 99 55 21
1998 54 Senate 100 0 73 27 D 78 21 99 75 20
1999 55 Senate 75 25 73 25 D 77 23 98 84 17
2000 56 Senate 73 27 72 27 D 85 15 99 50 40
2001 57 Senate 58 40 R 71 24 98 55 48
2002 58 Senate 56 43 R 91 9 99 68 42
2003 59 Senate 58 42 R 70 29 99 45 35
2004 60 Senate 70 27 R 73 24 96 84 20
Lifetime conservative rating:   46%


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.