RightDataUSA


James Exon

[Congressional biography]

Born: August 9, 1921 in Geddes, SD
Died: June 10, 2005 in Lincoln, NE (cancer)

Education:

  • Attended University of Omaha, 1939-1941

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army Signal Corps, 1942-1945
  • U.S. Army Reserve, 1945-1949

Career:

  • Corporate manager, 1946-1954
  • President of office equipment company, 1953-1971


Election Results for James Exon


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1970 48 NE D Governor Primary 1 54,783 44.6%
1970 48 NE D Governor General 1 248,552 53.8%
1974 52 NE D Governor Primary 1 125,690 87.4%
1974 52 NE D Governor General 1 267,012 59.2%
1978 56 NE D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 127,142 99.4%
1978 56 NE D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 334,276 67.6%
1984 62 NE D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 135,242 99.3%
1984 62 NE D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 332,217 51.9%
1990 68 NE D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 154,067 98.8%
1990 68 NE D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 349,779 58.9%


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



Ideology Data for James Exon


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
1979 57 Senate 54 31 59 34 D 68 32 94 22 42
1980 58 Senate 90 10 51 48 D 67 33 98 39 58
1981 59 Senate 67 31 69 27 R 56 41 97 45 47
1982 60 Senate 70 26 64 33 R 55 40 94 42 74
1983 61 Senate 70 25 56 43 R 54 46 97 40 60
1984 62 Senate 68 28 51 45 R 58 36 94 47 48
1985 63 Senate 65 28 54 30 R 43 45 90 31 65
1986 64 Senate 45 53 66 31 R 34 64 96 35 52
1987 65 Senate 72 28 74 23 R 44 56 98 65 38
1988 66 Senate 86 11 66 30 R 65 31 95 37 48
1989 67 Senate 79 21 53 46 R 65 35 99 35 36
1990 68 Senate 68 30 63 34 R 54 42 97 33 61
1991 69 Senate 75 23 68 32 R 52 48 99 50 38
1992 70 Senate 55 45 74 26 R 43 57 99 75 23
1993 71 Senate 71 24 70 28 D 76 21 98 50 38
1994 72 Senate 63 38 78 22 D 84 16 99 67 25
1995 73 Senate 54 44 71 26 D 73 24 97 63 35
1996 74 Senate 45 55 79 20 D 78 17 98 75 32
Lifetime conservative rating:   45%


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.