RightDataUSA


William Cohen

[Congressional biography]

Born: August 28, 1940 in Bangor, ME

Education:

  • Bowdoin College, 1962
  • Boston University Law School, 1965

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Instructor at University of Maine, 1968-1972
  • Assistant Penobscot County attorney, 1968-1970
  • U.S. Secretary of Defense, 1997-2001

Elected Office:

  • Bangor city council, 1969-1972
  • Bangor school board, 1970-1971
  • Mayor of Bangor, 1971-1972


Election Results for William Cohen


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 31 ME R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 28,955 61.1%
1972 31 ME R U.S. House District 02 General 1 106,280 54.4%
1974 33 ME R U.S. House District 02 General 1 118,154 71.4%
1976 35 ME R U.S. House District 02 General 1 169,292 77.1%
1978 37 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 212,294 56.6%
1984 43 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 404,414 73.3%
1990 49 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 319,167 61.3%


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



Ideology Data for William Cohen


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 32 House 38 60 46 52 R 53 46 97 52 38
1974 33 House 38 57 42 50 R 55 43 93 64 14
1975 34 House 49 48 56 42 R 62 37 97 74 42
1976 35 House 50 50 41 58 R 43 57 96 50 37
1977 36 House 48 45 50 44 D 67 29 95 65 47
1978 37 House 59 24 58 27 D 39 37 78 35 71
1979 38 Senate 55 38 62 34 D 55 37 95 42 62
1980 39 Senate 58 30 64 23 D 43 42 88 38 48
1981 40 Senate 59 36 69 25 R 76 19 94 35 47
1982 41 Senate 47 52 62 36 R 67 31 98 55 53
1983 42 Senate 73 23 60 36 R 66 29 95 47 30
1984 43 Senate 53 47 42 53 R 62 30 93 83 45
1985 44 Senate 55 32 55 38 R 63 27 93 35 50
1986 45 Senate 74 25 63 33 R 78 22 96 50 48
1987 46 Senate 63 38 57 42 R 55 42 97 55 58
1988 47 Senate 41 54 39 59 R 52 43 97 39 46
1989 48 Senate 71 29 52 48 R 74 26 100 45 48
1990 49 Senate 30 70 47 53 R 44 56 100 61 48
1991 50 Senate 58 43 59 41 R 67 33 100 60 43
1992 51 Senate 45 55 59 38 R 63 37 99 40 46
1993 52 Senate 56 41 68 31 D 42 58 99 40 76
1994 53 Senate 63 34 59 37 D 60 35 95 42 45
1995 54 Senate 67 32 60 38 D 56 40 98 45 30
1996 55 Senate 79 18 69 27 D 44 51 97 26 59
Lifetime conservative rating:   47%


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.