RightDataUSA


Jim Cooper

[Congressional biography]

Born: June 19, 1954 in Shelbyville, TN

Education:

  • Groton School (Groton, MA), 1972
  • University of North Carolina, B.A., 1975
  • Rhodes Scholar, Oxford University, M.A., 1977
  • Harvard University, J.D., 1980

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University
  • Investment banker, 1995-2002


Election Results for Jim Cooper


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1982 28 TN D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 52,682 68.5%
1982 28 TN D U.S. House District 04 General 1 93,453 66.1%
1984 30 TN D U.S. House District 04 General 1 93,848 75.2%
1986 32 TN D U.S. House District 04 General 1 86,997 100.0%
1988 34 TN D U.S. House District 04 General 1 94,129 100.0%
1990 36 TN D U.S. House District 04 General 1 52,101 67.4%
1992 38 TN D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 52,281 84.8%
1992 38 TN D U.S. House District 04 General 1 98,984 64.1%
1994 40 TN D U.S. Senate Class 2 Special Primary 1 375,615 100.0%
1994 40 TN D U.S. Senate Class 2 Special 2 565,930 38.6%
2002 48 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 32,651 46.7%
2002 48 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 108,903 63.7%
2004 50 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 22,396 100.0%
2004 50 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 168,970 69.3%
2006 52 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 38,148 91.6%
2006 52 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 122,919 69.0%
2008 54 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 17,985 100.0%
2008 54 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 181,467 65.8%
2010 56 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 28,660 89.3%
2010 56 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 99,162 56.2%
2012 58 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 28,110 100.0%
2012 58 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 171,621 65.2%
2014 60 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 40,831 100.0%
2014 60 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 96,148 62.3%
2016 62 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 32,103 100.0%
2016 62 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 171,111 62.6%
2018 64 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 70,480 100.0%
2018 64 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 177,923 67.8%
2020 66 TN D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 50,752 57.1%
2020 66 TN D U.S. House District 05 General 1 252,155 100.0%


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



Ideology Data for Jim Cooper


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 29 House 56 35 69 24 R 32 49 93 47 41
1984 30 House 49 51 74 20 R 42 52 91 84 27
1985 31 House 40 60 85 13 R 43 55 99 55 21
1986 32 House 52 40 80 14 R 31 68 95 70 14
1987 33 House 53 35 77 14 R 25 66 92 74 9
1988 34 House 66 32 84 15 R 34 65 98 70 28
1989 35 House 66 32 78 18 R 48 50 96 60 21
1990 36 House 62 34 74 25 R 37 62 99 56 29
1991 37 House 78 22 72 26 R 49 51 99 35 40
1992 38 House 74 23 75 22 R 42 56 98 70 29
1993 39 House 86 11 69 26 D 76 19 95 55 38
1994 40 House 92 6 50 40 D 69 28 91 37 67
2003 49 House 84 15 R 33 65 98 84 32
2004 50 House 81 17 R 42 58 98 85 13
2005 51 House 77 19 R 35 57 96 79 25
2006 52 House 81 18 R 39 61 99 70 40
2007 53 House 85 13 R 13 86 98 85 17
2008 54 House 89 8 R 29 69 96 67 20
2009 55 House 81 17 D 84 14 98 90 16
2010 56 House 80 19 D 63 34 99 55 35
2011 57 House 74 25 D 78 21 99 60 16
2012 58 House 81 19 D 69 29 99 63 24
2013 59 House 82 16 D 79 18 98 74 28
2014 60 House 88 12 D 80 17 99 80 8
2015 61 House 85 15 D 81 19 99 55 25
2016 62 House 79 18 D 74 23 97 84 8
2017 63 House 89 11 R 22 78 99 90 11
2018 64 House 83 16 R 63 37 99 33 32
2019 65 House 94 4 R 4 94 98 90 7
2020 66 House 98 2 R 8 92 99 85 4
2021 67 House 97 1 D 100 0 99 85 8
2022 68 House 98 1 D 100 0 99 3
Lifetime conservative rating:   22%


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.