RightDataUSA


Mitch McConnell

[Congressional biography]

Born: February 20, 1942 in Tuscumbia, AL

Education:

  • University of Louisville, B.A., 1964
  • University of Kentucky, J.D., 1967

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army Reserve, 1967

Career:

  • Intern for Sen. John Sherman Cooper, 1964
  • Lawyer
  • Assistant to Sen. Marlow Cook, 1968-1970
  • Deputy assistant to U.S. Attorney General, 1974-1975

Elected Office:

  • Jefferson County judge, 1978-1985


Election Results for Mitch McConnell


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1984 42 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 39,465 79.2%
1984 42 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 644,990 49.9%
1990 48 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 64,063 88.5%
1990 48 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 478,034 52.2%
1996 54 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 88,620 88.6%
1996 54 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 724,794 55.5%
2002 60 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 731,679 64.7%
2008 66 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 168,127 86.1%
2008 66 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 953,816 53.0%
2014 72 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 213,753 60.2%
2014 72 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 806,787 56.2%
2020 78 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 342,660 82.8%
2020 78 KY R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 1,233,315 57.8%


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



Ideology Data for Mitch McConnell


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 43 Senate 90 8 82 16 R 85 14 99 5 76
1986 44 Senate 92 8 90 10 R 87 13 99 0 81
1987 45 Senate 91 6 85 13 R 65 32 99 11 80
1988 46 Senate 92 8 80 18 R 85 15 98 5 92
1989 47 Senate 97 3 94 6 R 82 18 100 10 88
1990 48 Senate 92 5 84 15 R 78 22 99 0 87
1991 49 Senate 98 3 95 5 R 93 7 100 0 90
1992 50 Senate 92 8 91 8 R 77 23 99 15 88
1993 51 Senate 98 2 92 6 D 28 71 98 15 79
1994 52 Senate 84 13 91 8 D 35 61 99 5 92
1995 53 Senate 89 9 95 5 D 24 76 99 0 91
1996 54 Senate 92 5 95 5 D 39 61 99 10 95
1997 55 Senate 100 0 97 3 D 59 41 99 5 92
1998 56 Senate 100 0 95 5 D 39 61 99 0 92
1999 57 Senate 95 5 96 4 D 33 67 100 0 84
2000 58 Senate 99 1 98 1 D 42 58 98 5 100
2001 59 Senate 98 2 R 96 4 99 5 96
2002 60 Senate 96 4 R 89 2 98 0 100
2003 61 Senate 96 1 R 91 0 95 11 84
2004 62 Senate 99 1 R 98 2 99 15 96
2005 63 Senate 98 1 R 91 9 99 5 100
2006 64 Senate 96 4 R 91 9 100 5 84
2007 65 Senate 94 5 R 86 14 99 10 92
2008 66 Senate 97 3 R 72 28 100 20 80
2009 67 Senate 95 5 D 46 54 99 10 96
2010 68 Senate 98 2 D 41 59 100 0 96
2011 69 Senate 97 3 D 51 49 100 10 85
2012 70 Senate 93 7 D 48 52 100 0 100
2013 71 Senate 95 5 D 33 67 100 0 92
2014 72 Senate 94 5 D 54 45 99 5 84
2015 73 Senate 86 14 D 64 36 100 5 75
2016 74 Senate 77 23 D 68 32 100 10 68
2017 75 Senate 99 1 R 98 1 100 0 80
2018 76 Senate 96 4 R 100 0 100 0 82
2019 77 Senate 96 4 R 100 0 100 0 62
2020 78 Senate 96 4 R 94 6 100 0 74
2021 79 Senate 83 12 D 57 43 96 0 63
2022 80 Senate 76 24 D 40 60 100 56
2023 81 Senate 72 14 D 91 68
2024 82 Senate 81 18 D 99
Lifetime conservative rating:   84%


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.