RightDataUSA


Robert Byrd

[Congressional biography]

Born: November 20, 1917 in North Wilkesboro, NC
Died: June 28, 2010 in Falls Church, VA

Education:

  • American University, J.D., 1963

Elected Office:

  • WV House, 1947-1950
  • WV Senate, 1951-1952


Election Results for Robert Byrd


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1952 34 WV D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 37,404 45.9%
1952 34 WV D U.S. House District 06 General 1 104,387 55.6%
1954 36 WV D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 42,929 85.3%
1954 36 WV D U.S. House District 06 General 1 73,535 62.7%
1956 38 WV D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 60,036 94.3%
1956 38 WV D U.S. House District 06 General 1 99,854 57.4%
1958 40 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 170,686 80.2%
1958 40 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 381,745 59.2%
1964 46 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 268,368 85.4%
1964 46 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 515,015 67.7%
1970 52 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 195,725 89.0%
1970 52 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 345,965 77.6%
1976 58 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 338,534 100.0%
1976 58 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 566,423 99.9%
1982 64 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 210,523 100.0%
1982 64 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 387,170 68.5%
1988 70 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 252,767 80.8%
1988 70 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 410,983 64.8%
1994 76 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 190,061 85.4%
1994 76 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 290,495 69.0%
2000 82 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 251,438 100.0%
2000 82 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 469,215 77.8%
2006 88 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 159,154 85.7%
2006 88 WV D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 159,154 77.0%


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



Ideology Data for Robert Byrd


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
1953 35 House 84 13 R 45 94 82
1954 36 House 80 10 R 47 42 91 88
1955 37 House 68 23 R 41 59 89 70
1956 38 House 66 13 R 56 29 82 86
1957 39 House 66 19 R 53 35 88 44
1958 40 House 62 19 R 58 34 86 58
1959 41 Senate 35 62 88 10 R 31 68 98 54
1960 42 Senate 48 50 75 17 R 47 47 92 58
1961 43 Senate 20 80 92 6 D 83 15 99 80 14
1962 44 Senate 50 50 93 7 D 86 14 98 67 31
1963 45 Senate 32 58 85 11 D 75 12 90 59 31
1964 46 Senate 61 33 68 28 D 67 24 97 16 31
1965 47 Senate 57 33 62 31 D 64 27 91 38 36
1966 48 Senate 49 49 64 28 D 63 31 94 35 31
1967 49 Senate 71 23 68 24 D 65 27 94 23 80
1968 50 Senate 56 33 63 24 D 49 46 92 21 64
1969 51 Senate 59 33 52 34 R 46 47 91 33 57
1970 52 Senate 44 46 66 26 R 57 33 93 16 52
1971 53 Senate 62 29 62 32 R 55 35 95 28 65
1972 54 Senate 50 48 68 31 R 67 30 98 35 50
1973 55 Senate 47 53 75 25 R 40 60 99 60 20
1974 56 Senate 56 44 63 37 R 47 53 100 51* 25
1975 57 Senate 64 35 63 36 R 66 34 99 28 46
1976 58 Senate 42 57 73 26 R 47 53 99 45 41
1977 59 Senate 55 44 66 31 D 84 15 98 45 19
1978 60 Senate 40 58 79 19 D 82 15 99 45 21
1979 61 Senate 57 43 79 20 D 77 20 99 53 18
1980 62 Senate 42 58 87 12 D 73 26 99 56 19
1981 63 Senate 43 53 78 14 R 47 48 95 70 14
1982 64 Senate 56 44 81 19 R 40 60 100 60 53
1983 65 Senate 36 61 81 19 R 48 51 99 65 16
1984 66 Senate 45 55 77 22 R 53 45 98 74 50
1985 67 Senate 55 45 81 19 R 37 63 100 65 38
1986 68 Senate 30 70 84 16 R 36 64 99 75 29
1987 69 Senate 44 56 85 15 R 40 60 100 70 23
1988 70 Senate 49 51 81 19 R 56 44 100 55 36
1989 71 Senate 50 50 83 17 R 54 46 100 60 16
1990 72 Senate 62 38 74 26 R 42 58 100 56 26
1991 73 Senate 68 33 76 24 R 49 51 100 65 33
1992 74 Senate 61 39 74 25 R 27 73 99 100 19
1993 75 Senate 51 49 87 13 D 80 20 100 55 24
1994 76 Senate 69 31 73 27 D 74 26 100 75 40
1995 77 Senate 37 63 82 18 D 82 18 100 85 26
1996 78 Senate 32 68 82 18 D 81 19 100 70 15
1997 79 Senate 36 64 81 19 D 81 19 99 70 17
1998 80 Senate 25 75 72 28 D 74 26 100 80 16
1999 81 Senate 80 20 80 20 D 70 30 99 84 21
2000 82 Senate 72 28 72 28 D 75 25 100 75 28
2001 83 Senate 86 14 R 70 30 100 85 40
2002 84 Senate 81 18 R 72 26 99 79 15
2003 85 Senate 90 7 R 53 45 96 95 30
2004 86 Senate 88 10 R 66 34 99 90 8
2005 87 Senate 83 16 R 49 51 98 90 20
2006 88 Senate 72 26 R 49 50 96 80 21
2007 89 Senate 83 14 R 35 64 98 84 8
2008 90 Senate 65 4 R 26 57 74 92 0
2009 91 Senate 55 8 D 51 4 60 80 21
2010 92 Senate 25 2 D 24 2 26 100 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   29%


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.