RightDataUSA


John Murtha

[Congressional biography]

Born: June 17, 1932 in New Martinsville, WV
Died: February 8, 2010 in Arlington, VA

Education:

  • Ramsey High School (Mt. Pleasant, PA), 1950
  • University of Pittsburgh, B.A., 1962
  • Attended Indiana (PA) University, 1963

Military Service:

  • U.S. Marine Corps, 1952-1955
  • U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, 1955-1956, 1967-1990

Elected Office:

  • PA House, 1969-1974


Election Results for John Murtha


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1968 36 PA D U.S. House District 22 General 2 71,297 42.0%
1974 42 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 37,293 86.7%
1974 42 PA D U.S. House District 12 Special 1 60,523 49.9%
1974 42 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 89,193 58.1%
1976 44 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 122,504 67.7%
1978 46 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 104,216 68.7%
1980 48 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 106,750 59.4%
1982 50 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 31,945 51.7%
1982 50 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 96,369 61.1%
1984 52 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 71,276 100.0%
1984 52 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 134,384 69.1%
1986 54 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 44,280 81.0%
1986 54 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 97,135 67.4%
1988 56 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 133,081 100.0%
1990 58 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 29,369 51.0%
1990 58 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 80,686 61.7%
1992 60 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 166,916 100.0%
1994 62 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 54,771 100.0%
1994 62 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 117,825 68.9%
1996 64 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 49,630 100.0%
1996 64 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 136,815 70.0%
1998 66 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 31,039 99.8%
1998 66 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 100,528 68.5%
2000 68 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 40,484 99.9%
2000 68 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 145,538 70.8%
2002 70 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 60,687 64.2%
2002 70 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 124,201 73.5%
2004 72 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 61,190 100.0%
2004 72 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 204,504 100.0%
2006 74 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 60,376 100.0%
2006 74 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 123,472 60.8%
2008 76 PA D U.S. House District 12 Primary 1 112,082 100.0%
2008 76 PA D U.S. House District 12 General 1 155,268 57.9%


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



Ideology Data for John Murtha


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
1974 42 House 52 47 67 32 R 54 46 98 26* 24
1975 43 House 55 39 60 32 R 42 49 91 50 51
1976 44 House 56 41 65 32 R 37 61 96 45 38
1977 45 House 54 38 61 28 D 66 29 92 22 39
1978 46 House 55 43 66 33 D 59 40 99 25 46
1979 47 House 57 39 74 24 D 72 28 98 37 26
1980 48 House 49 48 78 19 D 74 21 96 44 39
1981 49 House 64 33 70 27 R 45 50 97 45 17
1982 50 House 64 30 68 21 R 53 39 86 47 33
1983 51 House 58 38 74 22 R 54 40 95 55 32
1984 52 House 63 34 77 18 R 52 43 95 40 29
1985 53 House 75 22 77 20 R 52 46 95 45 44
1986 54 House 68 28 76 15 R 42 56 91 42 52
1987 55 House 70 30 82 12 R 43 55 95 63 26
1988 56 House 58 39 79 16 R 35 60 97 55 46
1989 57 House 61 37 77 17 R 51 47 95 47 27
1990 58 House 61 39 85 13 R 33 64 97 56 22
1991 59 House 62 35 82 15 R 44 52 97 42 26
1992 60 House 67 27 81 13 R 39 54 92 68 21
1993 61 House 77 20 83 13 D 85 9 96 50 22
1994 62 House 69 19 83 11 D 81 14 92 50 38
1995 63 House 72 23 63 34 D 68 29 96 65 24
1996 64 House 86 10 63 34 D 76 23 96 55 25
1997 65 House 78 22 60 37 D 64 35 97 53 32
1998 66 House 67 29 71 26 D 72 27 95 75 21
1999 67 House 67 31 D 63 35 98 60 24
2000 68 House 66 29 D 72 26 94 55 24
2001 69 House 64 33 R 47 53 95 65 48
2002 70 House 67 22 R 39 39 83 58 32
2003 71 House 70 26 R 51 49 95 85 52
2004 72 House 76 19 R 30 64 88 59 30
2005 73 House 73 23 R 35 63 90 74 40
2006 74 House 74 24 R 37 55 93 72 28
2007 75 House 95 4 R 9 89 94 95 8
2008 76 House 95 3 R 24 73 93 85 4
2009 77 House 91 1 D 90 3 90 94 4
2010 78 House 3 0 D 2 0 4 0 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   31%


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.