RightDataUSA


John Kerry

[Congressional biography]

Born: December 11, 1943 in Denver, CO

Education:

  • Yale University, B.A., 1966
  • Boston College, LL.B., 1976

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1966-1970 (Vietnam)
  • Received numerous awards, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Organizer of Vietnam Veterans Against the War
  • Middlesex County district attorney, 1977-1982
  • U.S. Secretary of State, 2013-2017

Elected Office:

  • MA Lt. Governor, 1982-1984
  • Democrat candidate for President, 2004


Election Results for John Kerry


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 28 MA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 20,771 27.6%
1972 28 MA D U.S. House District 05 General 2 92,847 44.7%
1982 38 MA D Lt. Governor Primary 1 325,890 29.0%
1982 38 MA D Lt. Governor General 1 0 0.0%
1984 40 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 322,470 40.8%
1984 40 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 1,392,981 55.1%
1990 46 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 721,134 99.8%
1990 46 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 1,321,712 57.1%
1996 52 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 221,313 98.6%
1996 52 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 1,334,345 52.2%
2002 58 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 615,517 100.0%
2002 58 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 1,605,976 80.0%
2008 64 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 342,446 68.9%
2008 64 MA D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 1,971,974 65.9%


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



Ideology Data for John Kerry


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
1985 41 Senate 13 87 91 7 R 26 73 98 90 5
1986 42 Senate 16 79 85 12 R 22 75 95 95 10
1987 43 Senate 9 84 89 8 R 38 59 96 90 4
1988 44 Senate 0 92 88 4 R 40 55 93 100 0
1989 45 Senate 18 82 86 14 R 47 53 100 95 12
1990 46 Senate 5 86 85 11 R 25 70 96 100 4
1991 47 Senate 10 90 92 8 R 28 72 100 95 5
1992 48 Senate 8 89 92 8 R 23 77 99 100 0
1993 49 Senate 24 73 94 6 D 93 7 99 90 12
1994 50 Senate 16 84 94 6 D 89 10 99 95 0
1995 51 Senate 12 84 91 8 D 86 13 99 95 4
1996 52 Senate 18 82 92 8 D 92 8 99 95 5
1997 53 Senate 16 84 97 3 D 87 13 99 95 0
1998 54 Senate 38 63 95 5 D 90 6 98 95 4
1999 55 Senate 95 5 94 5 D 93 7 99 100 0
2000 56 Senate 96 4 93 3 D 97 3 95 90 12
2001 57 Senate 95 2 R 61 35 98 100 4
2002 58 Senate 89 7 R 69 24 96 85 20
2003 59 Senate 41 0 R 8 19 36 100 0
2004 60 Senate 12 0 R 5 0 10 100 0
2005 61 Senate 95 3 R 36 64 98 100 8
2006 62 Senate 91 5 R 47 46 93 95 9
2007 63 Senate 91 5 R 35 58 95 95 4
2008 64 Senate 95 2 R 33 65 97 100 4
2009 65 Senate 98 1 D 90 3 97 95 0
2010 66 Senate 96 3 D 98 0 98 85 0
2011 67 Senate 88 3 D 87 1 91 94 5
2012 68 Senate 93 6 D 96 1 99 95 4
2013 69 Senate 1 0 D 1 0 2 0 0
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.