RightDataUSA


Bennett Johnston

[Congressional biography]

Born: June 10, 1932 in Shreveport, LA

Education:

  • Louisiana State University, LL.B., 1956

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1956-1959 (Judge Advocate General Corps)

Career:

  • Lawyer

Elected Office:

  • LA House, 1964-1968
  • LA Senate, 1968-1972

Other notes:

  • Father-in-law of Tim Roemer


Election Results for Bennett Johnston


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1971 39 LA D Governor Primary Runoff 2 579,774 49.8%
1972 40 LA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 623,076 79.4%
1972 40 LA D Governor Primary 2 208,830 17.8%
1972 40 LA D Governor Primary Runoff 2 579,774 49.8%
1972 40 LA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 598,987 55.2%
1978 46 LA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 498,773 59.4%
1984 52 LA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 838,181 85.7%
1990 58 LA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 753,198 53.9%


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



Ideology Data for Bennett Johnston


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
1973 41 Senate 65 20 48 38 R 46 38 86 42 48
1974 42 Senate 65 25 47 42 R 52 39 85 15 44
1975 43 Senate 83 14 40 53 R 62 24 92 28* 54
1976 44 Senate 72 16 42 47 R 45 43 88 16 52
1977 45 Senate 80 12 41 49 D 67 25 88 28 29
1978 46 Senate 68 8 26 45 D 34 38 68 18 65
1979 47 Senate 85 10 55 38 D 60 30 92 18 35
1980 48 Senate 69 12 56 30 D 70 23 87 38 38
1981 49 Senate 93 3 49 45 R 68 26 95 26 27
1982 50 Senate 93 6 47 48 R 61 37 95 35 68
1983 51 Senate 82 5 54 40 R 55 44 92 20 56
1984 52 Senate 83 11 51 44 R 61 30 91 53 59
1985 53 Senate 68 27 63 33 R 45 53 95 63 44
1986 54 Senate 67 30 61 37 R 58 42 98 50 33
1987 55 Senate 88 13 82 17 R 44 54 95 70 20
1988 56 Senate 86 11 77 20 R 63 35 95 55 36
1989 57 Senate 63 37 71 29 R 70 30 100 30 32
1990 58 Senate 84 11 65 29 R 53 41 94 39 38
1991 59 Senate 80 19 65 34 R 56 43 99 40 52
1992 60 Senate 79 21 66 33 R 52 45 98 70 24
1993 61 Senate 90 10 77 22 D 85 13 98 45 28
1994 62 Senate 72 25 73 21 D 85 8 95 58 22
1995 63 Senate 81 14 69 26 D 77 22 95 68 14
1996 64 Senate 84 13 69 31 D 68 32 99 60 30
Lifetime conservative rating:   39%


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.