RightDataUSA


Howell Heflin

[Congressional biography]

Born: June 19, 1921 in Poulan, GA
Died: March 29, 2005 in Tuscumbia, AL (heart attack)

Education:

  • Birmingham Southern College, B.A., 1941
  • University of Alabama, J.D., 1948

Military Service:

  • U.S. Marine Corps, 1942-1946

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Chief Justice of AL Supreme Court, 1971-1977


Election Results for Howell Heflin


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1978 57 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 369,270 43.3%
1978 57 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary Runoff 1 556,685 64.9%
1978 57 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 547,054 94.0%
1984 63 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 399,817 83.2%
1984 63 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 860,535 62.8%
1990 69 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 540,876 81.4%
1990 69 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 717,814 60.5%


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



Ideology Data for Howell Heflin


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
1979 58 Senate 75 12 48 47 D 55 40 92 29 45
1980 59 Senate 66 28 59 39 D 54 44 97 41 48
1981 60 Senate 81 15 64 34 R 68 30 95 37 54
1982 61 Senate 79 17 57 42 R 61 39 97 25 74
1983 62 Senate 77 16 57 41 R 45 52 94 40 72
1984 63 Senate 89 11 36 59 R 75 21 93 26 91
1985 64 Senate 88 12 56 43 R 54 45 99 25 71
1986 65 Senate 84 16 42 57 R 76 24 99 25 62
1987 66 Senate 94 6 50 50 R 54 46 99 35 46
1988 67 Senate 97 3 52 47 R 73 27 98 30 58
1989 68 Senate 92 8 39 61 R 71 29 100 25 72
1990 69 Senate 95 3 53 46 R 60 39 99 28 55
1991 70 Senate 88 10 49 50 R 73 26 99 35 57
1992 71 Senate 89 11 52 48 R 53 47 100 40 46
1993 72 Senate 83 10 59 36 D 71 24 95 37 48
1994 73 Senate 88 13 64 32 D 82 15 96 55 28
1995 74 Senate 91 7 56 40 D 73 27 97 75 30
1996 75 Senate 89 11 58 40 D 68 31 97 40 40
Lifetime conservative rating:   55%


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.