RightDataUSA


Paul Coverdell

[Congressional biography]

Born: January 20, 1939 in Des Moines, IA
Died: July 18, 2000 in Atlanta, GA

Education:

  • Univeristy of Missouri, B.A., 1961

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1962-1964 (served in Okinawa, Taiwan, and Korea)

Career:

  • Businessman
  • Staff, George Bush's 1988 presidential campaign
  • Director of Peace Corps, 1989-1991

Elected Office:

  • GA Senate, 1971-1989


Election Results for Paul Coverdell


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1968 29 GA R State Senate District 056 Primary 1 7,125 100.0%
1968 29 GA R State Senate District 056 General 2 57,117 39.4%
1970 31 GA R State Senate District 056 Primary 1 2,008 100.0%
1970 31 GA R State Senate District 056 General 1 7,057 51.4%
1972 33 GA R State Senate District 040 Primary 1 4,119 100.0%
1972 33 GA R State Senate District 040 General 1 28,254 82.1%
1974 35 GA R State Senate District 040 Primary 1 2,592 100.0%
1974 35 GA R State Senate District 040 General 1 18,858 100.0%
1976 37 GA R State Senate District 040 Primary 1 1,820 100.0%
1976 37 GA R State Senate District 040 General 1 27,350 71.7%
1977 38 GA R U.S. House District 05 Special Open Primary 3 16,509 21.9%
1978 39 GA R State Senate District 040 Primary 1 1,956 100.0%
1978 39 GA R State Senate District 040 General 1 16,868 71.9%
1980 41 GA R State Senate District 040 Primary 1 2,185 100.0%
1980 41 GA R State Senate District 040 General 1 27,456 100.0%
1982 43 GA R State Senate District 040 Primary 1 3,723 100.0%
1982 43 GA R State Senate District 040 General 1 26,770 72.6%
1984 45 GA R State Senate District 040 Primary 1 2,924 100.0%
1984 45 GA R State Senate District 040 General 1 42,043 100.0%
1986 47 GA R State Senate District 040 Primary 1 2,878 100.0%
1986 47 GA R State Senate District 040 General 1 27,773 100.0%
1988 49 GA R State Senate District 040 Primary 1 2,036 100.0%
1988 49 GA R State Senate District 040 General 1 40,169 73.0%
1992 53 GA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 100,016 37.1%
1992 53 GA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary Runoff 1 80,435 50.5%
1992 53 GA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 2 1,073,282 47.7%
1992 53 GA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General Runoff 1 635,114 50.6%
1998 59 GA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 323,350 100.0%
1998 59 GA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 918,540 52.4%


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



Ideology Data for Paul Coverdell


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
1993 54 Senate 95 2 91 6 D 25 74 97 10 92
1994 55 Senate 88 9 92 5 D 35 65 97 5 100
1995 56 Senate 96 4 98 2 D 21 79 99 0 96
1996 57 Senate 97 3 98 2 D 34 66 100 5 100
1997 58 Senate 92 8 93 7 D 56 44 100 10 92
1998 59 Senate 88 0 90 8 D 39 58 97 0 92
1999 60 Senate 97 3 98 2 D 31 69 100 0 96
2000 61 Senate 98 2 77 1 D 41 59 91 0 100
Lifetime conservative rating:   96%


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 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 2025) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.