RightDataUSA


Bill Emerson

[Congressional biography]

Born: January 1, 1938 in St. Louis, MO
Died: June 23, 1996 in Bethesda, MD

Education:

  • Westminster College, B.A., 1959
  • University of Baltimore, LL.B., 1964

Military Service:

  • U.S. Air Force Reserve, 1964-1992

Career:

  • Assistant to KS Rep. Robert Ellsworth, 1961-1965
  • Assistant to MD Sen. Charles Mathias, 1965-1970
  • Corporate director for government relations
  • Executive assistant to FEC Chairman, 1975

Other notes:

  • Husband of Jo Ann Emerson


Election Results for Bill Emerson


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1980 42 MO R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 18,758 77.1%
1980 42 MO R U.S. House District 10 General 1 116,167 55.2%
1982 44 MO R U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 22,704 100.0%
1982 44 MO R U.S. House District 08 General 1 86,493 53.1%
1984 46 MO R U.S. House District 08 General 1 134,186 65.4%
1986 48 MO R U.S. House District 08 General 1 79,142 52.5%
1988 50 MO R U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 23,336 100.0%
1988 50 MO R U.S. House District 08 General 1 117,601 58.1%
1990 52 MO R U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 18,718 100.0%
1990 52 MO R U.S. House District 08 General 1 81,452 57.3%
1992 54 MO R U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 28,973 69.3%
1992 54 MO R U.S. House District 08 General 1 147,398 62.9%
1994 56 MO R U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 26,701 100.0%
1994 56 MO R U.S. House District 08 General 1 129,320 70.1%


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



Ideology Data for Bill Emerson


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 43 House 99 1 90 10 R 78 22 98 0 100
1982 44 House 85 10 88 9 R 58 34 96 11 91
1983 45 House 90 9 85 13 R 70 27 97 5 86
1984 46 House 93 5 78 19 R 57 42 98 15 83
1985 47 House 95 2 78 17 R 60 36 97 11 78
1986 48 House 92 8 82 18 R 69 31 100 10 77
1987 49 House 95 2 86 13 R 60 38 99 4 78
1988 50 House 84 3 75 14 R 47 38 91 13 91
1989 51 House 95 2 75 22 R 78 21 98 10 93
1990 52 House 96 2 65 31 R 57 41 97 11 78
1991 53 House 97 3 71 28 R 71 29 99 15 85
1992 54 House 92 8 84 15 R 76 24 99 20 92
1993 55 House 95 5 88 10 D 44 56 99 0 100
1994 56 House 86 0 84 11 D 44 49 96 0 100
1995 57 House 98 1 94 4 D 18 77 98 0 92
1996 58 House 91 0 86 4 D 33 62 91 0 100
Lifetime conservative rating:   88%


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.