RightDataUSA


Tom Lantos

[Congressional biography]

Born: February 1, 1928 in Budapest, Hungary
Died: February 11, 2008 in Bethesda, MD

Education:

  • University of Washington, B.A., 1949, M.A., 1950
  • University of California, Ph.D., 1953

Career:

  • College economics professor, 1950-1980
  • Bank economist, 1952-1953
  • Television commentator, 1955-1963
  • CA State University director of international programs, 1962-1971
  • Advisor to Sen. Joe Biden, 1978-1979


Election Results for Tom Lantos


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1980 52 CA D U.S. House District 11 Primary 1 52,722 100.0%
1980 52 CA D U.S. House District 11 General 1 85,823 46.4%
1982 54 CA D U.S. House District 11 Primary 1 59,330 100.0%
1982 54 CA D U.S. House District 11 General 1 109,812 57.1%
1984 56 CA D U.S. House District 11 Primary 1 60,170 89.1%
1984 56 CA D U.S. House District 11 General 1 147,607 69.9%
1986 58 CA D U.S. House District 11 Primary 1 58,269 100.0%
1986 58 CA D U.S. House District 11 General 1 112,380 74.1%
1988 60 CA D U.S. House District 11 Primary 1 65,401 100.0%
1988 60 CA D U.S. House District 11 General 1 145,484 71.0%
1990 62 CA D U.S. House District 11 Primary 1 53,744 100.0%
1990 62 CA D U.S. House District 11 General 1 105,029 65.9%
1992 64 CA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 63,297 82.0%
1992 64 CA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 157,205 68.8%
1994 66 CA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 51,932 100.0%
1994 66 CA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 118,408 67.4%
1996 68 CA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 58,477 100.0%
1996 68 CA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 149,052 71.7%
1998 70 CA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 88,917 100.0%
1998 70 CA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 128,135 74.0%
2000 72 CA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 103,807 100.0%
2000 72 CA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 158,404 74.5%
2002 74 CA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 57,536 100.0%
2002 74 CA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 105,597 68.1%
2004 76 CA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 63,323 73.5%
2004 76 CA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 171,852 68.0%
2006 78 CA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 61,510 83.3%
2006 78 CA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 138,650 76.0%


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



Ideology Data for Tom Lantos


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
1981 53 House 39 53 69 14 R 46 50 88 74 9
1982 54 House 29 66 87 4 R 31 57 87 84 10
1983 55 House 20 76 91 5 R 21 73 94 90 0
1984 56 House 14 81 83 4 R 27 69 91 85 5
1985 57 House 27 71 88 4 R 19 70 93 75 6
1986 58 House 40 60 89 5 R 23 76 94 70 18
1987 59 House 49 49 90 5 R 21 75 95 88 0
1988 60 House 42 55 89 6 R 27 71 94 85 8
1989 61 House 34 63 90 4 R 31 62 92 80 0
1990 62 House 30 70 89 6 R 26 74 96 78 17
1991 63 House 35 62 89 6 R 30 65 94 79 11
1992 64 House 31 69 90 6 R 19 81 95 95 9
1993 65 House 39 61 91 5 D 79 16 97 90 9
1994 66 House 44 53 85 5 D 79 15 91 72 24
1995 67 House 16 78 87 4 D 77 11 90 95 22
1996 68 House 14 78 91 3 D 82 13 93 95 0
1997 69 House 20 73 87 6 D 69 17 92 100 8
1998 70 House 24 76 92 5 D 80 18 96 100 8
1999 71 House 85 2 D 63 19 87 100 0
2000 72 House 95 2 D 84 16 93 85 4
2001 73 House 94 3 R 26 72 96 95 8
2002 74 House 91 5 R 18 82 93 95 4
2003 75 House 90 4 R 15 78 94 89 12
2004 76 House 93 4 R 27 70 93 100 9
2005 77 House 93 4 R 15 85 96 95 0
2006 78 House 94 3 R 24 71 96 100 9
2007 79 House 93 1 R 4 90 94 100 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   8%


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.