RightDataUSA


Byron Dorgan

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 14, 1942 in Dickinson, ND

Education:

  • University of North Dakota, B.S., 1964
  • University of Denver, M.B.A., 1966

Career:

  • ND Deputy Tax Commissioner, 1968-1969

Elected Office:

  • ND Tax Commissioner, 1969-1980


Election Results for Byron Dorgan


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 30 ND D Tax Commissioner Open Primary 1 58,521 52.6%
1972 30 ND D Tax Commissioner General 1 161,011 67.2%
1974 32 ND D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 53,335 100.0%
1974 32 ND D U.S. House At-Large District General 2 103,504 44.3%
1976 34 ND D Tax Commissioner General 1 210,311 79.3%
1980 38 ND D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 40,080 100.0%
1980 38 ND D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 166,437 56.8%
1982 40 ND D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 45,131 100.0%
1982 40 ND D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 186,534 71.6%
1984 42 ND D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 41,413 100.0%
1984 42 ND D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 242,968 78.7%
1986 44 ND D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 62,700 100.0%
1986 44 ND D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 216,258 75.5%
1988 46 ND D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 47,613 100.0%
1988 46 ND D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 212,583 70.9%
1990 48 ND D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 60,359 93.4%
1990 48 ND D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 151,530 65.0%
1992 50 ND D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 68,113 100.0%
1992 50 ND D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 179,347 59.0%
1998 56 ND D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 43,494 100.0%
1998 56 ND D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 134,747 63.2%
2004 62 ND D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 39,636 100.0%
2004 62 ND D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 212,143 68.3%


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



Ideology Data for Byron Dorgan


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
1981 39 House 37 53 80 18 R 37 55 97 76 25
1982 40 House 33 64 81 17 R 36 62 97 85 9
1983 41 House 33 60 77 18 R 18 77 94 80 33
1984 42 House 31 68 75 22 R 33 61 96 75 23
1985 43 House 22 78 83 15 R 23 78 97 65 11
1986 44 House 44 56 82 15 R 26 73 96 70 27
1987 45 House 30 70 83 12 R 13 83 93 92 0
1988 46 House 47 53 81 16 R 28 70 97 80 16
1989 47 House 37 61 83 14 R 24 74 96 85 21
1990 48 House 35 61 82 16 R 17 82 97 72 21
1991 49 House 51 49 75 23 R 30 69 97 75 25
1992 50 House 44 56 78 20 R 25 75 98 74 25
1993 51 Senate 32 56 76 16 D 72 17 92 87 23
1994 52 Senate 44 56 86 14 D 81 19 99 85 8
1995 53 Senate 32 68 87 11 D 85 14 98 95 13
1996 54 Senate 37 63 84 16 D 80 20 100 85 20
1997 55 Senate 44 56 84 13 D 81 19 98 80 17
1998 56 Senate 50 50 87 13 D 75 24 99 90 12
1999 57 Senate 88 12 88 11 D 73 27 99 95 12
2000 58 Senate 90 10 90 10 D 90 10 99 90 16
2001 59 Senate 91 9 R 65 33 99 85 36
2002 60 Senate 89 11 R 70 26 98 90 20
2003 61 Senate 90 9 R 54 45 99 80 10
2004 62 Senate 84 16 R 68 32 99 95 20
2005 63 Senate 86 11 R 40 53 97 100 17
2006 64 Senate 79 20 R 46 54 99 95 12
2007 65 Senate 85 14 R 34 60 99 89 12
2008 66 Senate 90 7 R 33 65 97 95 8
2009 67 Senate 88 11 D 90 5 98 89 12
2010 68 Senate 95 3 D 95 3 99 95 4
Lifetime conservative rating:   17%


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.