RightDataUSA


Robert Menendez

[Congressional biography]

Born: January 1, 1954 in New York City, NY

Education:

  • St. Peter's College, B.A., 1976
  • Rutgers Law School, J.D., 1979

Career:

  • Lawyer, 1980-1992
  • Union City chief financial officer, 1978-1982

Elected Office:

  • Union City Board of Education, 1974-1982
  • Mayor of Union City, 1986-1992
  • NJ Assembly, 1987-1991
  • NJ Senate, 1991-1993
  • Appointed to the U.S. Senate on January 17, 2006 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Jon Corzine

Other notes:

  • Father of Rob Menendez


Election Results for Robert Menendez


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1992 38 NJ D U.S. House District 13 Primary 1 24,245 68.0%
1992 38 NJ D U.S. House District 13 General 1 93,670 64.3%
1994 40 NJ D U.S. House District 13 Primary 1 21,651 100.0%
1994 40 NJ D U.S. House District 13 General 1 67,688 70.9%
1996 42 NJ D U.S. House District 13 Primary 1 34,685 92.8%
1996 42 NJ D U.S. House District 13 General 1 115,457 78.8%
1998 44 NJ D U.S. House District 13 Primary 1 25,067 100.0%
1998 44 NJ D U.S. House District 13 General 1 70,308 80.1%
2000 46 NJ D U.S. House District 13 Primary 1 38,651 100.0%
2000 46 NJ D U.S. House District 13 General 1 117,856 78.7%
2002 48 NJ D U.S. House District 13 Primary 1 37,357 100.0%
2002 48 NJ D U.S. House District 13 General 1 72,605 78.3%
2004 50 NJ D U.S. House District 13 Primary 1 34,807 87.2%
2004 50 NJ D U.S. House District 13 General 1 121,018 75.9%
2006 52 NJ D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 159,604 84.0%
2006 52 NJ D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,200,843 53.4%
2012 58 NJ D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 272,201 100.0%
2012 58 NJ D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,985,783 58.8%
2018 64 NJ D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 262,477 62.3%
2018 64 NJ D U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,711,654 54.0%


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



Ideology Data for Robert Menendez


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
1993 39 House 41 59 90 8 D 81 17 98 95 9
1994 40 House 31 69 95 4 D 79 21 99 89 5
1995 41 House 28 72 87 11 D 83 15 98 90 17
1996 42 House 25 71 91 5 D 77 19 95 89 5
1997 43 House 45 55 88 10 D 75 24 98 95 13
1998 44 House 29 71 90 10 D 74 21 98 95 12
1999 45 House 91 8 D 76 22 97 100 4
2000 46 House 89 9 D 72 28 96 95 8
2001 47 House 89 11 R 30 70 97 95 16
2002 48 House 87 12 R 25 61 95 95 9
2003 49 House 93 7 R 24 76 98 90 24
2004 50 House 87 7 R 36 58 94 94 8
2005 51 House 89 7 R 24 76 94 100 4
2006 52 Senate 93 4 R 46 46 95 90 4
2007 53 Senate 97 3 R 36 64 99 95 0
2008 54 Senate 97 2 R 31 67 97 100 4
2009 55 Senate 98 2 D 94 1 98 95 0
2010 56 Senate 95 3 D 100 0 99 90 0
2011 57 Senate 96 4 D 89 4 96 90 15
2012 58 Senate 96 3 D 96 3 99 95 8
2013 59 Senate 99 0 D 97 1 99 95 4
2014 60 Senate 98 0 D 97 2 99 90 4
2015 61 Senate 96 3 D 78 16 98 95 0
2016 62 Senate 91 8 D 81 16 98 100 4
2017 63 Senate 77 3 R 25 49 75 88 0
2018 64 Senate 98 2 R 27 72 99 100 14
2019 65 Senate 97 3 R 31 68 99 95 0
2020 66 Senate 95 3 R 30 69 99 100 9
2021 67 Senate 98 1 D 95 5 99 100 3
2022 68 Senate 93 1 D 92 1 94 0
2023 69 Senate 91 4 D 98 0
2024 70 Senate 69 12 D 86
Lifetime conservative rating:   6%


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.