RightDataUSA


Thad Cochran

[Congressional biography]

Born: December 7, 1937 in Pontotoc, MS
Died: May 30, 2019 in Oxford, MS

Education:

  • University of Missisippi, B.A., 1959, J.D., 1965

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1959-1961

Career:

  • Lawyer


Election Results for Thad Cochran


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 34 MS R U.S. House District 04 General 1 67,655 47.9%
1974 36 MS R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 24,176 98.6%
1974 36 MS R U.S. House District 04 General 1 62,634 70.2%
1976 38 MS R U.S. House District 04 General 1 101,132 76.0%
1978 40 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 51,212 69.1%
1978 40 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 263,089 45.1%
1984 46 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 580,314 60.9%
1990 52 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 274,244 100.0%
1996 58 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 138,813 95.4%
1996 58 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 624,154 71.0%
2002 64 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 533,269 84.6%
2008 70 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 766,111 61.4%
2014 76 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 2 156,313 49.0%
2014 76 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary Runoff 1 194,972 51.0%
2014 76 MS R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 378,481 59.9%


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



Ideology Data for Thad Cochran


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
1973 35 House 86 6 78 16 R 65 30 93 9 83
1974 36 House 77 11 73 20 R 70 23 89 17* 85
1975 37 House 89 5 80 15 R 61 38 95 5* 86
1976 38 House 90 6 81 17 R 63 33 96 5 81
1977 39 House 94 4 81 17 D 28 65 95 0 95
1978 40 House 47 5 45 8 D 13 30 50 9 94
1979 41 Senate 75 8 75 17 D 48 47 92 6 76
1980 42 Senate 80 14 74 20 D 39 54 93 22 95
1981 43 Senate 88 7 87 11 R 82 9 96 10 53
1982 44 Senate 85 3 88 9 R 77 20 93 11 76
1983 45 Senate 77 16 69 28 R 71 22 94 25 48
1984 46 Senate 96 2 93 5 R 87 8 91 16 82
1985 47 Senate 87 5 81 14 R 80 14 95 5 71
1986 48 Senate 91 4 88 10 R 88 10 98 5 76
1987 49 Senate 97 3 78 19 R 68 26 96 20 68
1988 50 Senate 97 0 66 22 R 70 22 89 6 96
1989 51 Senate 97 0 85 14 R 94 6 99 0 75
1990 52 Senate 100 0 83 15 R 85 15 99 0 87
1991 53 Senate 95 5 89 9 R 90 9 99 5 76
1992 54 Senate 89 8 92 6 R 82 15 98 10 85
1993 55 Senate 98 0 91 9 D 26 74 99 0 84
1994 56 Senate 91 6 81 18 D 45 55 98 10 92
1995 57 Senate 96 0 91 7 D 33 66 98 0 83
1996 58 Senate 87 5 89 7 D 36 54 96 6 94
1997 59 Senate 100 0 81 18 D 67 32 99 15 58
1998 60 Senate 88 13 86 14 D 53 47 100 0 76
1999 61 Senate 94 6 93 5 D 38 62 99 0 84
2000 62 Senate 98 2 98 2 D 45 55 99 0 92
2001 63 Senate 84 16 R 95 5 100 15 88
2002 64 Senate 86 14 R 94 0 99 25 90
2003 65 Senate 98 2 R 95 2 99 5 85
2004 66 Senate 98 2 R 95 5 100 15 92
2005 67 Senate 97 3 R 93 7 99 0 88
2006 68 Senate 86 13 R 84 10 97 11 67
2007 69 Senate 83 15 R 81 17 99 16 83
2008 70 Senate 83 15 R 70 30 98 15 68
2009 71 Senate 75 24 D 59 35 98 10 84
2010 72 Senate 89 11 D 48 52 100 5 88
2011 73 Senate 76 24 D 55 42 98 20 70
2012 74 Senate 72 28 D 54 46 100 20 52
2013 75 Senate 83 15 D 46 49 97 11 60
2014 76 Senate 63 7 D 42 26 71 14 63
2015 77 Senate 89 10 D 62 34 99 5 58
2016 78 Senate 79 21 D 55 42 97 5 58
2017 79 Senate 88 0 R 85 1 89 0 78
2018 80 Senate 20 0 R 24 0 23 0 100
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.