RightDataUSA


Bill Jefferson

[Congressional biography]

Born: March 14, 1947 in Lake Providence, LA

Education:

  • Southern University, B.A., 1969
  • Harvard University, J.D., 1972

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1969-1975

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Law clerk, 1972-1973
  • Aide to Sen. Bennett Johnston, 1973-1975

Elected Office:

  • LA Senate, 1979-1980
  • Candidate for Mayor of New Orleans, 1982, 1986


Election Results for Bill Jefferson


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1990 43 LA D U.S. House District 02 Open Primary 1 32,237 24.4%
1990 43 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 55,621 52.5%
1992 45 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 67,030 73.5%
1994 47 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 60,906 74.7%
1996 49 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 0 0.0%
1998 51 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 102,247 86.0%
1999 52 LA D Governor General 2 382,445 29.5%
2000 53 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 0 0.0%
2002 55 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 90,310 63.5%
2004 57 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 173,510 79.0%
2006 59 LA D U.S. House District 02 Open Primary 1 28,283 26.3%
2006 59 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 35,153 56.5%
2008 61 LA D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 17,510 25.3%
2008 61 LA D U.S. House District 02 General 2 31,318 46.8%


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



Ideology Data for Bill Jefferson


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
1991 44 House 19 68 82 5 R 26 63 89 85 0
1992 45 House 25 65 81 5 R 14 74 85 94 0
1993 46 House 23 73 91 4 D 83 13 93 95 4
1994 47 House 28 67 86 3 D 85 10 92 89 15
1995 48 House 33 50 73 7 D 65 14 81 88 9
1996 49 House 51 43 85 9 D 73 19 91 85 5
1997 50 House 45 53 83 10 D 61 24 92 79 17
1998 51 House 45 45 82 8 D 73 15 88 94 13
1999 52 House 74 7 D 61 13 77 94 5
2000 53 House 81 9 D 72 22 90 74 13
2001 54 House 84 12 R 44 56 94 84 21
2002 55 House 89 8 R 50 50 93 75 20
2003 56 House 82 8 R 31 62 89 95 27
2004 57 House 91 6 R 39 61 96 80 17
2005 58 House 86 10 R 24 76 95 94 29
2006 59 House 80 11 R 37 50 89 71 35
2007 60 House 90 3 R 4 88 91 100 4
2008 61 House 90 2 R 13 80 88 95 13
Lifetime conservative rating:   14%


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.