RightDataUSA


Edward Kennedy

[Congressional biography]

Born: February 22, 1932 in Boston, MA
Died: August 25, 2009 in Hyannis Port, MA

Education:

  • Harvard University, B.A., 1956
  • University of Virginia, LL.B., 1959

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1951-1953

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Assistant Suffolk County district attorney, 1961-1962

Other notes:

  • Brother of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, uncle of Joe Kennedy, father of Patrick Kennedy


Election Results for Edward Kennedy


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1962 30 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Special Primary 1 559,303 69.3%
1962 30 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Special 1 1,162,611 55.4%
1964 32 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 608,791 100.0%
1964 32 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,716,907 74.3%
1970 38 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 517,443 100.0%
1970 38 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,202,856 62.1%
1976 44 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 534,725 73.9%
1976 44 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,726,657 69.3%
1982 50 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 869,985 100.0%
1982 50 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,247,084 60.8%
1988 56 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 299,507 99.8%
1988 56 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,693,344 65.0%
1994 62 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 391,637 98.9%
1994 62 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,266,011 58.1%
2000 68 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 236,883 99.0%
2000 68 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,889,494 72.7%
2006 74 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 729,137 100.0%
2006 74 MA D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,500,738 69.3%


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



Ideology Data for Edward Kennedy


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
1963 31 Senate 5 86 84 3 D 75 4 83 94 0
1964 32 Senate 2 4 37 6 D 31 5 49 100 0
1965 33 Senate 11 80 81 10 D 75 11 86 94 0
1966 34 Senate 1 86 67 9 D 66 16 83 100 7
1967 35 Senate 0 89 69 15 D 68 18 86 92 7
1968 36 Senate 4 34 26 4 D 39 5 39 100 10
1969 37 Senate 3 85 78 5 R 44 44 83 100 14
1970 38 Senate 3 74 73 4 R 33 40 70 94 13
1971 39 Senate 13 76 78 10 R 30 50 83 100 0
1972 40 Senate 4 82 80 8 R 22 52 80 95 0
1973 41 Senate 4 85 80 5 R 30 58 86 90 9
1974 42 Senate 4 80 78 5 R 31 61 84 100 0
1975 43 Senate 4 84 80 4 R 43 45 84 89* 0
1976 44 Senate 5 84 84 4 R 21 60 82 100 3
1977 45 Senate 2 88 86 5 D 76 17 89 95 0
1978 46 Senate 5 88 88 5 D 80 12 89 100 4
1979 47 Senate 2 88 72 5 D 73 7 74 94 0
1980 48 Senate 0 24 15 2 D 15 9 18 100 0
1981 49 Senate 4 87 80 9 R 31 60 89 100 0
1982 50 Senate 2 88 83 5 R 29 64 91 100 5
1983 51 Senate 11 82 70 17 R 36 54 87 100 0
1984 52 Senate 6 91 84 7 R 30 58 83 100 5
1985 53 Senate 17 73 81 7 R 27 69 89 85 10
1986 54 Senate 24 70 79 16 R 28 69 95 89 11
1987 55 Senate 6 81 85 5 R 29 62 89 95 0
1988 56 Senate 3 89 84 4 R 36 55 88 100 0
1989 57 Senate 18 79 90 7 R 48 49 98 85 8
1990 58 Senate 14 81 89 7 R 25 70 96 100 0
1991 59 Senate 13 88 92 7 R 31 67 99 95 0
1992 60 Senate 5 92 95 3 R 25 73 99 100 0
1993 61 Senate 10 90 95 4 D 93 3 99 90 4
1994 62 Senate 19 78 92 6 D 90 5 95 90 0
1995 63 Senate 12 84 93 4 D 91 8 96 100 4
1996 64 Senate 8 92 93 6 D 86 12 99 95 0
1997 65 Senate 0 100 96 3 D 84 11 97 100 4
1998 66 Senate 0 100 98 0 D 92 4 96 95 0
1999 67 Senate 97 3 93 2 D 93 7 93 100 4
2000 68 Senate 98 2 94 2 D 94 6 92 90 12
2001 69 Senate 95 3 R 63 35 97 100 4
2002 70 Senate 93 3 R 61 33 93 100 0
2003 71 Senate 92 3 R 45 51 95 95 10
2004 72 Senate 95 2 R 61 37 97 100 0
2005 73 Senate 98 0 R 27 67 97 100 0
2006 74 Senate 96 1 R 46 50 97 100 0
2007 75 Senate 86 7 R 35 58 91 94 0
2008 76 Senate 65 1 R 11 30 58 100 0
2009 77 Senate 2 0 D 3 0 2 100 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   3%


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.