RightDataUSA


Tom Foley

[Congressional biography]

Born: March 6, 1929 in Spokane, WA
Died: October 18, 2013 in Washington, DC

Education:

  • University of Washington, A.B., 1951, LL.B., 1957

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Spokane County deputy prosecutor, 1958-1960
  • Law instructor at Gonzaga University, 1958-1959
  • Assistant WA Attorney General, 1960-1961
  • Counsel to U.S. House Interior Committee, 1961-1963
  • U.S. Ambassador to Japan, 1997-2000


Election Results for Tom Foley


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1964 35 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 2 28,775 29.4%
1964 35 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 84,830 53.4%
1966 37 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 26,191 39.8%
1966 37 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 74,571 56.5%
1968 39 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 42,435 47.2%
1968 39 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 88,446 56.8%
1970 41 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 52,203 66.8%
1970 41 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 88,189 67.0%
1972 43 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 87,609 74.4%
1972 43 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 150,580 81.3%
1974 45 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 42,428 61.9%
1974 45 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 87,959 64.3%
1976 47 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 71,620 73.4%
1976 47 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 120,415 58.0%
1978 49 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 36,697 38.8%
1978 49 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 77,201 48.0%
1980 51 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 55,967 45.5%
1980 51 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 120,530 51.9%
1982 53 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 61,842 61.9%
1982 53 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 109,549 64.3%
1984 55 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 68,197 71.7%
1984 55 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 154,988 69.7%
1986 57 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 62,365 72.8%
1986 57 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 121,732 74.7%
1988 59 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 81,223 76.2%
1988 59 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 160,654 76.4%
1990 61 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 73,007 98.1%
1990 61 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 110,234 68.8%
1992 63 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 68,536 52.7%
1992 63 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 135,965 55.2%
1994 65 WA D U.S. House District 05 Open Primary 1 44,829 34.9%
1994 65 WA D U.S. House District 05 General 2 106,074 49.1%


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



Ideology Data for Tom Foley


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
1965 36 House 22 76 82 13 D 85 10 92 71 25
1966 37 House 22 46 58 20 D 64 18 80 60 31
1967 38 House 19 78 80 11 D 77 9 87 80 14
1968 39 House 16 82 84 12 D 87 8 94 92 5
1969 40 House 20 69 76 16 R 55 36 89 80 21
1970 41 House 25 59 64 25 R 66 29 92 100 22
1971 42 House 22 72 75 17 R 53 39 87 73 15
1972 43 House 22 73 78 18 R 68 32 91 75 10
1973 44 House 23 70 81 12 R 37 57 90 84 16
1974 45 House 13 75 80 9 R 51 36 91 90 5
1975 46 House 24 62 76 12 R 44 48 89 71 8
1976 47 House 36 59 78 19 R 37 61 94 65 18
1977 48 House 27 70 84 13 D 72 27 96 47 8
1978 49 House 40 55 69 25 D 64 30 94 30 32
1979 50 House 36 56 83 12 D 80 16 91 59 15
1980 51 House 38 60 85 12 D 76 21 92 61 5
1981 52 House 51 45 80 17 R 54 45 96 58 17
1982 53 House 40 55 83 12 R 39 51 94 68 19
1983 54 House 25 55 83 8 R 29 59 89 85 14
1984 55 House 32 56 81 12 R 38 57 92 80 27
1985 56 House 29 69 90 3 R 29 71 93 75 11
1986 57 House 40 54 91 4 R 23 73 95 83 18
1987 58 House 30 58 90 4 R 25 71 94 80 9
1988 59 House 21 76 91 4 R 23 67 94 89 4
1989 60 House 16 0 R 5 15 17 100 0
1990 61 House 4 0 R 2 3 2 50 0
1991 62 House 3 0 R 1 6 3 100 0
1992 63 House 5 0 R 3 3 4 100 0
1993 64 House 7 1 D 12 0 6 83 0
1994 65 House 6 0 D 18 0 6 100 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   14%


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.