RightDataUSA


Wendell Ford

[Congressional biography]

Born: September 8, 1924 in Owensboro, KY
Died: January 22, 2015 in Owensboro, KY

Education:

  • Attended University of Kentucky, 1942-1943
  • Maryland School of Insurance, 1947

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1942-1946
  • KY National Guars, 1942-1962

Career:

  • Insurance businessman
  • Assistant to KY Governor, 1959-1963

Elected Office:

  • KY Senate, 1965-1967
  • KY Lt. Governor, 1967-1971


Election Results for Wendell Ford


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1967 42 KY D Lt. Governor Primary 1 105,568 36.1%
1967 42 KY D Lt. Governor General 1 413,837 50.8%
1971 46 KY D Governor Primary 1 237,815 53.0%
1971 46 KY D Governor General 1 470,720 50.6%
1974 49 KY D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 136,458 84.8%
1974 49 KY D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 399,406 53.5%
1980 55 KY D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 188,047 87.0%
1980 55 KY D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 720,861 65.1%
1986 61 KY D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 503,775 74.4%
1992 67 KY D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 836,888 62.9%


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



Ideology Data for Wendell 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 50 Senate 45 46 68 24 R 56 40 91 56* 26
1976 51 Senate 39 53 73 22 R 36 57 92 47 38
1977 52 Senate 71 22 49 41 D 74 17 92 53 23
1978 53 Senate 65 28 46 46 D 49 42 94 45 52
1979 54 Senate 69 20 56 37 D 60 35 92 38 33
1980 55 Senate 54 32 68 23 D 71 24 93 78 24
1981 56 Senate 58 41 84 14 R 56 44 98 70 13
1982 57 Senate 66 33 75 24 R 40 56 97 70 47
1983 58 Senate 52 43 81 17 R 40 56 98 70 20
1984 59 Senate 55 38 76 22 R 45 51 94 79 23
1985 60 Senate 68 28 76 23 R 39 60 99 50 43
1986 61 Senate 47 53 74 25 R 34 66 99 55 38
1987 62 Senate 66 34 85 13 R 35 64 99 75 19
1988 63 Senate 78 22 70 29 R 64 33 99 65 24
1989 64 Senate 71 29 64 35 R 60 39 99 45 28
1990 65 Senate 86 14 69 30 R 55 45 99 39 35
1991 66 Senate 95 5 67 33 R 57 43 99 50 47
1992 67 Senate 82 16 70 29 R 35 65 99 75 15
1993 68 Senate 80 20 86 14 D 92 8 100 60 24
1994 69 Senate 59 38 81 18 D 90 8 99 60 24
1995 70 Senate 82 16 78 22 D 79 21 99 80 13
1996 71 Senate 74 26 79 21 D 83 17 100 65 40
1997 72 Senate 72 28 79 21 D 78 21 99 75 13
1998 73 Senate 88 13 82 17 D 75 22 99 85 12
Lifetime conservative rating:   28%


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.