RightDataUSA


Tom Harkin

[Congressional biography]

Born: November 19, 1939 in Cumming, IA

Education:

  • Iowa State University, B.S., 1962
  • Catholic University, J.D., 1972

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1962-1967
  • U.S. Naval Reserve, 1968-1974

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Polk County Legal Aid Society, 1973
  • Staff aide to U.S. House Select Committee, 1973-1974


Election Results for Tom Harkin


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 32 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 16,864 99.9%
1972 32 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 2 87,937 44.7%
1974 34 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 17,446 100.0%
1974 34 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 81,186 51.1%
1976 36 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 16,593 100.0%
1976 36 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 135,600 64.9%
1978 38 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 16,272 100.0%
1978 38 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 82,333 58.9%
1980 40 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 16,267 100.0%
1980 40 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 127,895 60.2%
1982 42 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 26,785 100.0%
1982 42 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 93,333 58.9%
1984 44 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 106,005 99.9%
1984 44 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 716,883 55.5%
1990 50 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 162,661 99.5%
1990 50 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 529,571 53.8%
1996 56 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 98,737 99.2%
1996 56 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 634,166 51.8%
2002 62 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 83,505 100.0%
2002 62 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 554,278 54.2%
2008 68 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 90,785 100.0%
2008 68 IA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 941,665 62.7%


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



Ideology Data for Tom Harkin


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 35 House 18 76 78 16 R 27 67 93 95 21
1976 36 House 26 64 71 16 R 24 69 89 85 23
1977 37 House 24 67 71 20 D 59 29 89 90 16
1978 38 House 24 73 73 25 D 69 28 96 63 4
1979 39 House 27 65 71 20 D 66 28 92 82 22
1980 40 House 19 72 74 17 D 69 28 91 82 11
1981 41 House 21 73 81 14 R 25 70 91 94 9
1982 42 House 12 86 83 12 R 26 69 93 95 0
1983 43 House 16 81 82 10 R 7 85 89 95 5
1984 44 House 17 80 79 14 R 29 66 92 75 22
1985 45 Senate 17 82 90 8 R 22 77 98 100 5
1986 46 Senate 5 91 91 5 R 19 78 97 95 15
1987 47 Senate 16 81 87 8 R 31 65 96 95 4
1988 48 Senate 8 86 89 6 R 42 57 96 95 0
1989 49 Senate 26 71 77 22 R 38 58 98 95 16
1990 50 Senate 8 92 85 15 R 22 78 100 94 22
1991 51 Senate 5 75 75 3 R 19 62 75 100 0
1992 52 Senate 5 66 66 3 R 18 62 74 100 0
1993 53 Senate 15 83 92 6 D 92 7 98 90 0
1994 54 Senate 9 88 95 3 D 90 8 95 100 0
1995 55 Senate 14 86 91 9 D 90 10 99 95 9
1996 56 Senate 18 82 91 9 D 85 15 100 80 10
1997 57 Senate 20 76 90 8 D 83 13 95 89 13
1998 58 Senate 13 88 92 2 D 81 11 95 100 5
1999 59 Senate 97 3 96 3 D 91 9 98 100 4
2000 60 Senate 97 3 97 3 D 92 8 99 95 4
2001 61 Senate 97 3 R 61 38 99 100 8
2002 62 Senate 90 8 R 67 26 96 84 15
2003 63 Senate 93 2 R 43 50 94 95 15
2004 64 Senate 94 6 R 56 39 98 100 8
2005 65 Senate 97 2 R 29 69 98 100 4
2006 66 Senate 94 5 R 44 53 99 100 8
2007 67 Senate 94 4 R 31 64 98 100 8
2008 68 Senate 95 3 R 28 69 96 100 4
2009 69 Senate 98 1 D 96 3 99 100 0
2010 70 Senate 97 2 D 94 5 98 100 0
2011 71 Senate 97 2 D 85 8 97 95 5
2012 72 Senate 94 3 D 89 5 96 95 4
2013 73 Senate 97 2 D 95 0 98 89 0
2014 74 Senate 94 0 D 94 1 94 89 4
Lifetime conservative rating:   9%


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.