RightDataUSA


Margaret Heckler

[Congressional biography]

Born: June 21, 1931 in Flushing, NY
Died: August 6, 2018 in Arlington, VA

Education:

  • Albertus Magnus College, B.A., 1953
  • Boston College, LL.B., 1956

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • MA Governor's Council, 1962-1966
  • U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services, 1983-1985
  • U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, 1985-1989


Election Results for Margaret Heckler


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1966 35 MA R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 15,441 55.8%
1966 35 MA R U.S. House District 10 General 1 96,675 51.1%
1968 37 MA R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 14,940 99.9%
1968 37 MA R U.S. House District 10 General 1 138,220 69.4%
1970 39 MA R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 18,813 99.9%
1970 39 MA R U.S. House District 10 General 1 102,895 57.0%
1972 41 MA R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 10,453 100.0%
1972 41 MA R U.S. House District 10 General 1 161,708 100.0%
1974 43 MA R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 17,080 100.0%
1974 43 MA R U.S. House District 10 General 1 99,993 64.2%
1976 45 MA R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 10,750 100.0%
1976 45 MA R U.S. House District 10 General 1 176,604 100.0%
1978 47 MA R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 20,717 100.0%
1978 47 MA R U.S. House District 10 General 1 102,080 61.1%
1980 49 MA R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 7,829 99.8%
1980 49 MA R U.S. House District 10 General 1 131,794 60.6%
1982 51 MA R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 15,306 99.8%
1982 51 MA R U.S. House District 04 General 2 82,804 40.5%


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



Ideology Data for Margaret Heckler


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
1967 36 House 35 39 45 29 D 46 27 73 53 33
1968 37 House 27 65 35 48 D 68 21 82 50 35
1969 38 House 22 67 42 49 R 60 32 92 64 13
1970 39 House 9 70 25 60 R 65 26 83 81 19
1971 40 House 23 65 40 47 R 39 49 84 82 16
1972 41 House 24 56 33 54 R 51 27 85 83 0
1973 42 House 17 80 28 66 R 38 57 92 72 44
1974 43 House 18 68 20 68 R 43 34 87 80 12
1975 44 House 29 62 36 54 R 48 46 91 83 26
1976 45 House 37 55 31 62 R 41 57 92 65 24
1977 46 House 38 56 39 55 D 65 28 90 65 32
1978 47 House 34 57 41 51 D 58 26 86 58 42
1979 48 House 46 51 42 54 D 50 42 90 47 32
1980 49 House 38 57 38 56 D 56 36 87 76 16
1981 50 House 45 55 45 52 R 54 43 93 50 58
1982 51 House 23 56 25 59 R 35 56 82 89 20
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.