RightDataUSA


Tom Carper

[Congressional biography]

Born: January 23, 1947 in Beckley, WV

Education:

  • Ohio State University, B.A., 1968
  • University of Delaware, M.B.A., 1975

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1968-1973 (Vietnam)
  • U.S. Naval Reserve, 1973-1992

Career:

  • DE Division of Economic Development, 1975-1976

Elected Office:

  • DE Treasurer, 1976-1983


Election Results for Tom Carper


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1976 29 DE D Treasurer General 1 118,159 55.5%
1978 31 DE D Treasurer General 1 91,809 58.8%
1980 33 DE D Treasurer General 1 125,204 59.4%
1982 35 DE D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 98,533 52.4%
1984 37 DE D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 142,070 58.5%
1986 39 DE D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 106,351 66.2%
1988 41 DE D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 153,338 66.8%
1990 43 DE D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 24,561 90.2%
1990 43 DE D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 116,274 65.5%
1992 45 DE D Governor Primary 1 36,600 89.2%
1992 45 DE D Governor General 1 179,365 64.7%
1996 49 DE D Governor General 1 188,300 69.5%
2000 53 DE D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 181,566 55.5%
2006 59 DE D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 170,567 67.0%
2012 65 DE D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 43,587 87.9%
2012 65 DE D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 265,415 66.4%
2018 71 DE D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 53,635 64.6%
2018 71 DE D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 217,385 60.0%


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



Ideology Data for Tom Carper


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
1983 36 House 35 65 76 23 R 33 66 98 84 14
1984 37 House 46 54 76 24 R 41 58 99 65 26
1985 38 House 51 49 75 22 R 43 58 98 55 21
1986 39 House 54 46 78 21 R 30 69 99 55 27
1987 40 House 58 42 74 22 R 31 68 98 72 9
1988 41 House 42 58 83 13 R 30 68 98 79 24
1989 42 House 54 46 85 14 R 41 58 99 80 21
1990 43 House 35 65 88 11 R 23 77 99 78 17
1991 44 House 59 38 75 23 R 37 63 98 55 20
1992 45 House 58 38 73 23 R 31 68 97 75 38
2001 54 Senate 80 20 R 70 29 99 90 24
2002 55 Senate 75 25 R 81 17 99 80 25
2003 56 Senate 80 19 R 52 45 98 75 10
2004 57 Senate 85 14 R 71 29 99 95 12
2005 58 Senate 77 23 R 40 60 100 85 8
2006 59 Senate 78 21 R 64 36 99 90 20
2007 60 Senate 87 12 R 45 53 99 90 8
2008 61 Senate 80 19 R 44 54 99 89 0
2009 62 Senate 93 7 D 95 3 99 90 4
2010 63 Senate 94 5 D 100 0 99 90 0
2011 64 Senate 92 8 D 98 2 99 90 5
2012 65 Senate 89 11 D 99 1 100 90 12
2013 66 Senate 96 4 D 99 0 99 80 4
2014 67 Senate 98 2 D 99 1 99 85 4
2015 68 Senate 86 13 D 95 4 99 75 0
2016 69 Senate 88 9 D 87 6 94 79 13
2017 70 Senate 87 12 R 51 49 98 80 4
2018 71 Senate 82 18 R 46 54 99 90 9
2019 72 Senate 83 16 R 49 51 99 100 10
2020 73 Senate 84 15 R 50 50 99 95 4
2021 74 Senate 99 1 D 95 5 100 95 5
2022 75 Senate 99 0 D 99 0 99 0
2023 76 Senate 94 2 D 99 0
2024 77 Senate 89 11 D 100
Lifetime conservative rating:   11%


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.