RightDataUSA


Lindsey Graham

[Congressional biography]

Born: July 9, 1955 in Seneca, SC

Education:

  • Daniel High School (Central, SC), 1973
  • University of South Carolina, B.A., 1977, J.D., 1981

Military Service:

  • U.S. Air Force, 1982-1988
  • SC Air National Guard, 1989-1995
  • U.S. Air Force Reserve, 1995-2015 (Afghanistan & Iraq)

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Air Force prosecutor, Europe Circuit, 1984-1988
  • Assistant Oconee County attorney, 1988-1992
  • Judge advocate, McIntyre Air National Guard Base, 1989-1994
  • Central city attorney, 1990-1994

Elected Office:

  • SC House, 1992-1994


Election Results for Lindsey Graham


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1994 38 SC R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 21,562 52.1%
1994 38 SC R U.S. House District 03 General 1 90,123 60.1%
1996 40 SC R U.S. House District 03 General 1 114,273 60.3%
1998 42 SC R U.S. House District 03 General 1 129,047 99.7%
2000 44 SC R U.S. House District 03 General 1 150,176 67.8%
2002 46 SC R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 600,010 54.4%
2008 52 SC R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 187,736 66.8%
2008 52 SC R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 1,076,534 57.5%
2014 58 SC R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 178,833 56.4%
2014 58 SC R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 672,941 54.3%
2020 64 SC R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 317,512 67.7%
2020 64 SC R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 1,369,137 54.4%


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



Ideology Data for Lindsey Graham


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
1995 39 House 95 5 93 5 D 20 80 98 5 96
1996 40 House 98 2 96 4 D 34 65 99 0 100
1997 41 House 96 4 93 5 D 25 75 98 5 92
1998 42 House 95 5 89 9 D 22 78 95 15 88
1999 43 House 85 9 D 22 78 94 20 88
2000 44 House 95 2 D 16 78 93 6 100
2001 45 House 92 7 R 84 16 99 15 88
2002 46 House 86 11 R 79 18 98 15 83
2003 47 Senate 95 4 R 94 5 99 15 90
2004 48 Senate 89 8 R 90 7 96 25 92
2005 49 Senate 91 7 R 87 13 97 20 96
2006 50 Senate 79 18 R 84 9 96 0 83
2007 51 Senate 90 8 R 86 11 96 20 88
2008 52 Senate 80 3 R 54 26 86 21 80
2009 53 Senate 92 6 D 49 49 97 16 88
2010 54 Senate 93 5 D 46 51 98 5 92
2011 55 Senate 78 20 D 57 34 96 25 75
2012 56 Senate 85 14 D 54 43 99 0 92
2013 57 Senate 72 22 D 46 44 92 20 68
2014 58 Senate 79 14 D 57 38 93 11 74
2015 59 Senate 63 13 D 43 19 72 0 57
2016 60 Senate 56 24 D 42 26 83 15 48
2017 61 Senate 96 2 R 94 3 96 5 75
2018 62 Senate 85 7 R 92 0 92 11 71
2019 63 Senate 92 5 R 96 2 97 5 60
2020 64 Senate 93 3 R 95 1 93 0 73
2021 65 Senate 56 32 D 66 34 89 0 65
2022 66 Senate 43 51 D 56 37 94 55
2023 67 Senate 50 41 D 95 68
2024 68 Senate 56 38 D 93
Lifetime conservative rating:   80%


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.