RightDataUSA


Ray LaHood

[Congressional biography]

Born: December 6, 1945 in Peoria, IL

Education:

  • Bradley University, B.S., 1971

Career:

  • School teacher, 1971-1977
  • Assistant to Rep. Tom Railsback, 1977-1982
  • Aide to Rep. Bob Michel, 1983-1994

Elected Office:

  • IL House, 1982-1983


Election Results for Ray LaHood


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1994 48 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 33,956 50.1%
1994 48 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 119,838 60.2%
1996 50 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 57,256 100.0%
1996 50 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 143,110 59.3%
1998 52 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 61,019 100.0%
1998 52 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 158,175 100.0%
2000 54 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 40,746 100.0%
2000 54 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 173,706 67.1%
2002 56 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 74,092 100.0%
2002 56 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 192,567 100.0%
2004 58 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 52,026 100.0%
2004 58 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 216,047 70.2%
2006 60 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 49,400 100.0%
2006 60 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 150,194 67.3%


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



Ideology Data for Ray LaHood


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
1995 49 House 94 5 92 8 D 22 77 99 10 72
1996 50 House 76 24 84 16 D 39 61 99 10 80
1997 51 House 98 0 91 9 D 31 69 99 20 64
1998 52 House 86 14 83 17 D 28 71 99 20 60
1999 53 House 81 16 D 26 70 97 17 67
2000 54 House 86 13 D 36 64 99 15 72
2001 55 House 89 9 R 77 23 98 15 72
2002 56 House 88 8 R 79 18 94 0 92
2003 57 House 87 10 R 87 11 97 16 76
2004 58 House 77 13 R 64 27 92 21 71
2005 59 House 83 10 R 65 33 93 6 65
2006 60 House 89 11 R 95 5 98 5 80
2007 61 House 58 22 R 37 40 80 36 52
2008 62 House 71 21 R 45 42 90 73 36
Lifetime conservative rating:   69%


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.