RightDataUSA


Joe Kennedy

[Congressional biography]

Born: September 24, 1952 in Brighton, MA

Education:

  • University of Massachusetts, B.A., 1976

Career:

  • Corporate president, 1979-1986

Other notes:

  • Son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of Edward Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, cousin of Patrick Kennedy


Election Results for Joe Kennedy


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1986 33 MA D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 59,206 52.5%
1986 33 MA D U.S. House District 08 General 1 104,651 72.0%
1988 35 MA D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 37,390 99.3%
1988 35 MA D U.S. House District 08 General 1 165,745 80.4%
1990 37 MA D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 79,222 99.5%
1990 37 MA D U.S. House District 08 General 1 125,479 72.2%
1992 39 MA D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 45,993 80.6%
1992 39 MA D U.S. House District 08 General 1 149,903 83.1%
1994 41 MA D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 42,807 99.4%
1994 41 MA D U.S. House District 08 General 1 113,224 99.0%
1996 43 MA D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 26,233 99.4%
1996 43 MA D U.S. House District 08 General 1 147,246 84.3%


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



Ideology Data for Joe 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
1987 34 House 12 88 90 5 R 14 86 97 96 9
1988 35 House 3 89 95 3 R 18 80 98 95 4
1989 36 House 10 90 95 4 R 23 73 98 95 4
1990 37 House 13 80 90 4 R 21 73 94 94 4
1991 38 House 14 86 94 3 R 24 74 96 95 0
1992 39 House 17 81 85 7 R 15 79 92 95 8
1993 40 House 14 86 93 3 D 79 18 95 95 4
1994 41 House 19 78 94 2 D 76 22 96 94 5
1995 42 House 21 77 91 5 D 84 12 96 80 8
1996 43 House 4 92 93 5 D 84 16 98 95 0
1997 44 House 18 78 93 6 D 77 21 98 100 4
1998 45 House 10 86 90 6 D 78 17 93 95 8
Lifetime conservative rating:   5%


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.