RightDataUSA


Jim Mattox

[Congressional biography]

Born: August 29, 1943 in Dallas, TX
Died: November 20, 2008 in Dripping Springs, TX

Education:

  • Baylor University, B.B.A., 1965
  • Southern Methodist University, J.D., 1968

Career:

  • Interned for Rep. Earle Cabell, 1967
  • Lawyer
  • Assistant Dallas County district attorney, 1968-1970

Elected Office:

  • TX House, 1973-1977
  • TX Attorney General, 1983-1991
  • Candidate for TX Attorney General, 1998


Election Results for Jim Mattox


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1976 32 TX D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 19,289 60.9%
1976 32 TX D U.S. House District 05 General 1 67,871 54.0%
1978 34 TX D U.S. House District 05 General 1 35,524 50.3%
1980 36 TX D U.S. House District 05 General 1 70,892 51.0%
1982 38 TX D Attorney General Primary 1 438,687 36.6%
1982 38 TX D Attorney General Primary Runoff 1 295,370 51.5%
1982 38 TX D Attorney General General 1 1,803,626 58.3%
1986 42 TX D Attorney General Primary 1 858,315 100.0%
1986 42 TX D Attorney General General 1 1,735,820 51.6%
1990 46 TX D Governor Primary 2 546,103 36.7%
1990 46 TX D Governor Primary Runoff 2 481,739 42.9%
1994 50 TX D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 416,503 40.5%
1994 50 TX D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary Runoff 2 346,414 46.4%
1998 54 TX D Attorney General Primary 1 444,746 68.0%
1998 54 TX D Attorney General General 2 1,631,045 44.2%


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



Ideology Data for Jim Mattox


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
1977 33 House 35 63 71 27 D 65 34 97 60 26
1978 34 House 46 52 63 34 D 65 29 96 35 8
1979 35 House 44 47 63 30 D 61 34 93 44 31
1980 36 House 46 36 62 23 D 53 32 83 53 50
1981 37 House 21 63 69 6 R 29 51 76 82 17
1982 38 House 22 41 51 6 R 18 42 59 73 27
Lifetime conservative rating:   26%


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.