RightDataUSA


James McGovern

[Congressional biography]

Born: November 20, 1959 in Worcester, MA

Education:

  • American University, B.A., 1981, M.P.A., 1984

Career:

  • Aide to Sen. George McGovern, 1981-1984
  • Press secretary for Rep. Joe Moakley, 1982-1996



Election Results for James McGovern


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1994 34 MA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 2 13,603 29.5%
1996 36 MA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 14,723 99.6%
1996 36 MA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 135,047 52.9%
1998 38 MA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 37,223 99.6%
1998 38 MA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 108,613 56.9%
2000 40 MA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 36,705 99.2%
2000 40 MA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 213,065 98.8%
2002 42 MA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 44,515 100.0%
2002 42 MA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 155,697 98.8%
2004 44 MA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 39,014 100.0%
2004 44 MA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 192,036 70.5%
2006 46 MA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 64,756 100.0%
2006 46 MA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 166,973 98.8%
2008 48 MA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 37,041 100.0%
2008 48 MA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 227,619 98.5%
2010 50 MA D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 32,108 100.0%
2010 50 MA D U.S. House District 03 General 1 122,708 56.5%
2012 52 MA D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 24,375 91.3%
2012 52 MA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 259,257 98.5%
2014 54 MA D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 39,852 99.3%
2014 54 MA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 169,640 98.2%
2016 56 MA D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 21,562 99.2%
2016 56 MA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 275,487 98.2%
2018 58 MA D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 53,848 99.2%
2018 58 MA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 191,332 67.2%
2020 60 MA D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 121,645 94.6%
2020 60 MA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 249,854 65.3%
2022 62 MA D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 69,839 99.7%
2022 62 MA D U.S. House District 02 General 1 180,639 66.2%


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




Ideology Data for James McGovern


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
1997 37 House 9 89 96 4 D 84 16 99 100 4
1998 38 House 7 93 93 3 D 78 20 96 100 4
1999 39 House 97 3 D 78 22 99 100 0
2000 40 House 97 2 D 80 20 98 100 0
2001 41 House 97 3 R 16 84 98 90 4
2002 42 House 99 1 R 21 79 99 100 0
2003 43 House 98 1 R 16 84 99 100 8
2004 44 House 95 2 R 27 73 97 100 4
2005 45 House 98 1 R 15 85 99 100 0
2006 46 House 98 2 R 21 79 99 95 4
2007 47 House 98 1 R 3 96 99 95 0
2008 48 House 99 1 R 14 86 99 100 0
2009 49 House 97 0 D 94 6 97 100 0
2010 50 House 99 0 D 83 15 99 100 0
2011 51 House 97 3 D 81 19 99 100 4
2012 52 House 98 1 D 92 7 99 100 0
2013 53 House 98 1 D 91 8 99 100 8
2014 54 House 97 0 D 89 9 98 100 8
2015 55 House 98 1 D 93 6 99 100 8
2016 56 House 97 2 D 98 0 98 100 4
2017 57 House 98 0 R 11 86 98 100 7
2018 58 House 99 0 R 15 85 99 100 4
2019 59 House 99 0 R 0 100 99 100 0
2020 60 House 99 1 R 11 89 100 100 0
2021 61 House 100 0 D 100 0 99 100 0
2022 62 House 98 0 D 90 7 99 0
2023 63 House 95 5 D 99 3
2024 64 House 87 13 D 100 19
Lifetime conservative rating:   3%


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.