RightDataUSA


Jim Jeffords

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 11, 1934 in Rutland, VT
Died: August 18, 2014 in Washington, DC

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1956-1959
  • U.S. Naval Reserve

Elected Office:

  • VT Senate, 1967-1968
  • VT Attorney General, 1969-1973

Other notes:

  • Changed party affiliation from Republican to Independent on June 6, 2001 (but caucused with the Democrats)


Election Results for Jim Jeffords


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1968 34 VT R Attorney General Primary 1 32,356 58.8%
1968 34 VT R Attorney General General 1 90,932 58.6%
1970 36 VT R Attorney General Primary 1 37,390 99.8%
1970 36 VT R Attorney General General 1 86,515 58.1%
1972 38 VT R Governor Primary 2 27,902 45.5%
1974 40 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 18,573 40.0%
1974 40 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 74,561 52.9%
1976 42 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 32,904 100.0%
1976 42 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 124,458 67.4%
1978 44 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 30,486 100.0%
1978 44 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 90,688 75.3%
1980 46 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 41,785 100.0%
1980 46 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 154,274 79.2%
1982 48 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 43,090 77.9%
1982 48 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 114,191 69.2%
1984 50 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 35,038 72.0%
1984 50 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 148,025 65.4%
1986 52 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 26,133 100.0%
1986 52 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 168,403 89.1%
1988 54 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 30,555 60.8%
1988 54 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 163,183 68.0%
1994 60 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 24,766 91.6%
1994 60 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 106,505 50.3%
2000 66 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 60,234 76.3%
2000 66 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 189,133 65.6%


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



Ideology Data for Jim Jeffords


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 41 House 44 49 48 46 R 64 34 94 68* 37
1976 42 House 48 46 42 54 R 35 53 93 60 37
1977 43 House 36 57 43 51 D 68 25 90 79 50
1978 44 House 39 56 48 46 D 60 33 90 40 43
1979 45 House 40 52 43 44 D 50 39 87 63 41
1980 46 House 34 56 48 41 D 55 31 84 75 17
1981 47 House 24 68 35 55 R 41 55 92 67 55
1982 48 House 38 55 35 58 R 44 47 89 65 10
1983 49 House 27 67 31 60 R 41 51 90 65 29
1984 50 House 32 49 31 52 R 47 42 83 68 35
1985 51 House 33 55 37 53 R 30 56 91 65 18
1986 52 House 44 56 29 69 R 41 58 98 60 14
1987 53 House 47 51 32 60 R 25 71 93 68 26
1988 54 House 45 47 29 61 R 26 64 91 78 21
1989 55 Senate 58 34 40 53 R 68 26 92 50 36
1990 56 Senate 49 46 36 61 R 51 46 97 72 26
1991 57 Senate 35 55 36 58 R 54 43 94 68 10
1992 58 Senate 37 55 36 58 R 45 52 93 68 24
1993 59 Senate 27 71 45 53 D 56 42 97 60 38
1994 60 Senate 25 75 31 68 D 77 21 98 85 12
1995 61 Senate 53 47 58 41 D 50 48 97 58 23
1996 62 Senate 58 39 57 41 D 53 46 98 50 45
1997 63 Senate 56 44 51 46 D 75 21 97 45 22
1998 64 Senate 38 50 49 50 D 68 31 99 55 24
1999 65 Senate 67 33 65 33 D 56 44 98 40 40
2000 66 Senate 55 45 54 44 D 75 25 95 63 36
2001 67 Senate 70 28 R 72 19 95 40 29
2002 68 Senate 83 12 R 70 24 94 95 6
2003 69 Senate 85 13 R 48 45 97 85 10
2004 70 Senate 90 8 R 59 29 95 94 4
2005 71 Senate 87 9 R 33 53 96 95 8
2006 72 Senate 89 8 R 41 43 94 90 4
Lifetime conservative rating:   27%


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.