RightDataUSA


Harold Ford

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 20, 1945 in Memphis, TN

Education:

  • Tennessee State University, B.S., 1967
  • John Gupton College, A.A. (mortuary science), 1969
  • Howard University, M.P.A., 1982

Career:

  • Mortician, 1969-1975

Elected Office:

  • TN House, 1971-1974

Other notes:

  • Father of Harold Ford, Jr.


Election Results for Harold Ford


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1974 29 TN D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 35,709 63.0%
1974 29 TN D U.S. House District 08 General 1 67,925 49.9%
1976 31 TN D U.S. House District 08 General 1 100,683 60.7%
1978 33 TN D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 54,235 80.6%
1978 33 TN D U.S. House District 08 General 1 80,776 69.7%
1980 35 TN D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 40,825 72.7%
1980 35 TN D U.S. House District 08 General 1 110,139 99.9%
1982 37 TN D U.S. House District 09 Primary 1 63,330 84.4%
1982 37 TN D U.S. House District 09 General 1 112,143 72.4%
1984 39 TN D U.S. House District 09 Primary 1 34,242 80.0%
1984 39 TN D U.S. House District 09 General 1 133,428 71.5%
1986 41 TN D U.S. House District 09 Primary 1 62,037 72.9%
1986 41 TN D U.S. House District 09 General 1 83,006 83.4%
1988 43 TN D U.S. House District 09 Primary 1 35,589 80.3%
1988 43 TN D U.S. House District 09 General 1 126,280 81.6%
1990 45 TN D U.S. House District 09 Primary 1 55,247 69.2%
1990 45 TN D U.S. House District 09 General 1 48,629 58.1%
1992 47 TN D U.S. House District 09 Primary 1 74,175 64.6%
1992 47 TN D U.S. House District 09 General 1 123,276 57.9%
1994 49 TN D U.S. House District 09 Primary 1 49,959 78.5%
1994 49 TN D U.S. House District 09 General 1 94,805 57.8%


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



Ideology Data for Harold Ford


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
1975 30 House 25 69 77 15 R 29 61 90 79* 17
1976 31 House 21 65 75 9 R 24 61 80 89 13
1977 32 House 20 78 85 10 D 73 19 95 75 21
1978 33 House 14 67 80 7 D 66 17 85 79 4
1979 34 House 10 79 87 3 D 75 14 89 89 5
1980 35 House 15 59 75 5 D 66 16 82 94 7
1981 36 House 9 85 89 4 R 34 59 91 89 0
1982 37 House 19 64 81 6 R 27 56 82 100 0
1983 38 House 10 74 78 3 R 20 65 83 89 0
1984 39 House 15 76 71 4 R 29 57 86 89 0
1985 40 House 7 85 87 2 R 18 78 90 95 0
1986 41 House 12 70 71 4 R 16 73 78 100 0
1987 42 House 9 40 63 1 R 9 48 59 95 0
1988 43 House 5 66 61 2 R 12 57 70 100 0
1989 44 House 2 80 85 0 R 21 64 83 100 0
1990 45 House 6 67 62 3 R 8 53 62 100 5
1991 46 House 5 84 74 5 R 20 62 76 94 0
1992 47 House 13 67 69 7 R 10 69 76 100 5
1993 48 House 7 80 64 3 D 54 16 69 94 5
1994 49 House 17 53 74 3 D 67 14 77 100 0
1995 50 House 11 80 85 6 D 75 14 89 90 17
1996 51 House 12 67 68 4 D 65 10 68 94 7
Lifetime conservative rating:   6%


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.