RightDataUSA


Don Clausen

[Congressional biography]

Born: April 27, 1923 in Ferndale, CA
Died: February 7, 2015 in Fortuna, CA

Education:

  • Attended San Jose State College and Cal Tech

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy
  • Carrier pilot in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, 1944-1945

Career:

  • Insurance businessman
  • Owner of Clausen Flying Service air ambulance

Elected Office:

  • Del Norte County supervisor, 1955-1962


Election Results for Don Clausen


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1962 39 CA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 60,594 99.2%
1962 39 CA D (write-in) U.S. House District 01 Primary 2 758 1.1%
1962 39 CA R U.S. House District 01 General 2 97,949 49.2%
1963 40 CA R U.S. House District 01 Special 1 79,292 54.2%
1964 41 CA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 77,325 100.0%
1964 41 CA D (write-in) U.S. House District 01 Primary 3 2,011 2.4%
1964 41 CA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 141,048 59.1%
1966 43 CA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 76,764 100.0%
1966 43 CA D (write-in) U.S. House District 01 Primary 3 2,789 3.5%
1966 43 CA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 143,755 64.9%
1968 45 CA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 133,597 75.2%
1970 47 CA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 54,719 100.0%
1970 47 CA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 108,358 63.4%
1972 49 CA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 62,808 100.0%
1972 49 CA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 141,226 62.3%
1974 51 CA R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 47,652 82.6%
1974 51 CA R U.S. House District 02 General 1 95,929 53.0%
1976 53 CA R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 44,388 100.0%
1976 53 CA R U.S. House District 02 General 1 121,290 56.0%
1978 55 CA R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 65,190 100.0%
1978 55 CA R U.S. House District 02 General 1 114,451 52.0%
1980 57 CA R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 62,970 100.0%
1980 57 CA R U.S. House District 02 General 1 141,698 54.2%
1982 59 CA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 54,625 100.0%
1982 59 CA R U.S. House District 01 General 2 102,043 47.2%


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



Ideology Data for Don Clausen


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
1963 40 House 73 7 84 7 D 17 70 85 0 100
1964 41 House 92 0 74 15 D 37 48 86 8 94
1965 42 House 82 8 71 10 D 35 50 81 0 100
1966 43 House 78 11 63 23 D 41 43 85 6 75
1967 44 House 80 4 72 13 D 38 46 83 7 100
1968 45 House 65 18 51 23 D 50 33 76 0 67
1969 46 House 87 9 65 20 R 62 31 87 7 57
1970 47 House 80 2 68 10 R 70 17 83 11 67
1971 48 House 82 8 74 17 R 82 12 86 3 89
1972 49 House 79 10 62 24 R 76 22 90 0 70
1973 50 House 80 15 69 26 R 52 39 93 8 79
1974 51 House 82 11 65 26 R 58 28 89 14 55
1975 52 House 83 9 74 15 R 58 33 88 5* 74
1976 53 House 82 10 73 19 R 63 33 91 10 94
1977 54 House 81 5 76 13 D 41 49 88 0 74
1978 55 House 77 15 71 18 D 33 63 88 11 95
1979 56 House 85 8 73 20 D 31 59 88 11 78
1980 57 House 71 25 64 30 D 48 46 92 22 74
1981 58 House 92 5 80 16 R 72 26 94 0 92
1982 59 House 88 12 67 29 R 61 35 96 20 64
Lifetime conservative rating:   79%


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.