RightDataUSA


John Chafee

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 22, 1922 in Providence, RI
Died: October 24, 1999 in Bethesda, MD

Education:

  • Yale University, B.A., 1947
  • Harvard University, LL.B., 1950

Military Service:

  • U.S. Marine Corps, 1942-1945, 1951-1953

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • U.S. Secretary of the Navy, 1969-1972

Elected Office:

  • RI House, 1957-1963

Other notes:

  • Father of Lincoln Chafee


Election Results for John Chafee


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1962 39 RI R Governor Primary 1 17,756 62.5%
1962 39 RI R Governor General 1 163,952 50.1%
1964 41 RI R Governor General 1 239,501 61.1%
1966 43 RI R Governor General 1 210,202 63.3%
1968 45 RI R Governor General 2 187,958 49.0%
1972 49 RI R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 2 188,990 45.7%
1976 53 RI R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 230,329 57.7%
1982 59 RI R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 175,495 51.2%
1988 65 RI R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 217,273 54.6%
1994 71 RI R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 27,906 69.0%
1994 71 RI R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 222,856 64.5%


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



Ideology Data for John Chafee


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
1977 54 Senate 61 29 53 34 D 56 26 88 50 20
1978 55 Senate 29 65 29 65 D 78 13 94 58 17
1979 56 Senate 29 63 38 53 D 78 17 91 56 17
1980 57 Senate 34 63 38 56 D 76 16 96 76 25
1981 58 Senate 50 47 68 29 R 75 23 97 47 33
1982 59 Senate 30 69 47 50 R 54 45 97 80 5
1983 60 Senate 45 50 67 33 R 80 18 98 60 12
1984 61 Senate 60 36 66 28 R 71 26 95 58 32
1985 62 Senate 52 47 68 30 R 72 26 97 35 33
1986 63 Senate 62 37 64 34 R 67 31 98 63 29
1987 64 Senate 31 69 46 54 R 50 47 96 80 16
1988 65 Senate 22 76 34 63 R 45 49 94 95 4
1989 66 Senate 71 29 57 43 R 81 19 100 35 36
1990 67 Senate 65 30 58 36 R 58 41 96 56 43
1991 68 Senate 45 52 52 45 R 62 35 98 55 24
1992 69 Senate 55 45 59 40 R 62 38 98 40 42
1993 70 Senate 46 54 57 41 D 57 43 98 55 52
1994 71 Senate 41 56 44 51 D 76 19 94 65 30
1995 72 Senate 74 26 75 24 D 50 50 99 30 35
1996 73 Senate 68 32 64 36 D 59 39 99 40 60
1997 74 Senate 68 32 60 39 D 73 24 98 55 25
1998 75 Senate 50 50 57 42 D 76 22 99 40 32
1999 76 Senate 59 26 D 54 46 94 29 32
Lifetime conservative rating:   28%


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.