RightDataUSA


David Obey

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 3, 1938 in Okmulgee, OK

Education:

  • University of Wisconsin, B.A., 1960, M.A., 1962

Career:

  • Real estate broker

Elected Office:

  • WI Assembly, 1963-1969


Election Results for David Obey


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1969 30 WI D U.S. House District 07 Special Primary 1 18,895 90.6%
1969 30 WI D U.S. House District 07 Special 1 63,567 51.6%
1970 31 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 22,940 100.0%
1970 31 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 88,746 67.6%
1972 33 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 33,012 100.0%
1972 33 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 135,385 62.8%
1974 35 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 42,799 100.0%
1974 35 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 104,468 70.5%
1976 37 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 38,182 100.0%
1976 37 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 171,366 73.3%
1978 39 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 38,323 100.0%
1978 39 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 110,874 62.2%
1980 41 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 33,060 100.0%
1980 41 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 164,340 64.7%
1982 43 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 60,677 100.0%
1982 43 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 122,124 68.0%
1984 45 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 31,544 100.0%
1984 45 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 146,131 61.2%
1986 47 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 36,682 100.0%
1986 47 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 106,700 62.1%
1988 49 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 53,973 100.0%
1988 49 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 142,197 61.8%
1990 51 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 30,228 100.0%
1990 51 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 100,069 62.1%
1992 53 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 42,794 100.0%
1992 53 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 166,200 64.4%
1994 55 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 30,165 99.7%
1994 55 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 97,184 54.3%
1996 57 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 30,610 99.8%
1996 57 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 137,428 57.0%
1998 59 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 24,782 99.1%
1998 59 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 115,613 60.6%
2000 61 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 29,099 100.0%
2000 61 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 173,007 63.3%
2002 63 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 60,367 100.0%
2002 63 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 146,364 64.2%
2004 65 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 29,390 100.0%
2004 65 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 241,306 85.6%
2006 67 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 45,887 100.0%
2006 67 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 161,903 62.2%
2008 69 WI D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 25,100 100.0%
2008 69 WI D U.S. House District 07 General 1 212,666 60.8%


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



Ideology Data for David Obey


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
1969 30 House 19 78 77 21 R 51 49 96 92 29
1970 31 House 20 77 72 25 R 55 42 95 88 17
1971 32 House 3 93 90 7 R 33 67 96 91 5
1972 33 House 12 83 83 11 R 46 49 93 100 10
1973 34 House 19 77 85 12 R 26 70 96 96 8
1974 35 House 13 86 81 16 R 43 51 97 87 10
1975 36 House 17 81 87 11 R 43 57 97 100 6
1976 37 House 15 80 86 10 R 25 71 94 90 6
1977 38 House 17 79 89 8 D 73 20 94 89 3
1978 39 House 13 85 88 9 D 86 14 95 60 8
1979 40 House 9 86 87 7 D 73 22 94 100 11
1980 41 House 7 86 88 7 D 82 14 93 94 5
1981 42 House 13 81 83 11 R 29 70 94 94 8
1982 43 House 18 79 86 11 R 38 57 94 100 5
1983 44 House 11 88 94 5 R 22 77 97 100 0
1984 45 House 17 81 89 9 R 31 68 98 89 14
1985 46 House 7 91 93 4 R 15 84 97 90 5
1986 47 House 20 76 92 5 R 19 79 97 89 10
1987 48 House 7 93 93 3 R 13 87 96 100 0
1988 49 House 8 87 93 4 R 20 76 97 95 4
1989 50 House 17 76 88 8 R 31 67 97 100 0
1990 51 House 15 83 92 6 R 15 83 97 88 9
1991 52 House 24 73 92 6 R 29 71 99 85 15
1992 53 House 15 85 93 5 R 14 84 98 100 0
1993 54 House 30 68 94 5 D 78 22 99 90 13
1994 55 House 14 72 92 3 D 71 27 95 79 10
1995 56 House 18 82 92 7 D 84 15 99 84 13
1996 57 House 31 69 83 15 D 77 23 98 75 25
1997 58 House 16 84 88 10 D 69 28 97 80 21
1998 59 House 31 69 91 8 D 88 11 98 95 16
1999 60 House 86 12 D 74 22 97 90 4
2000 61 House 92 6 D 72 26 98 95 4
2001 62 House 93 5 R 28 70 97 95 13
2002 63 House 91 6 R 32 68 97 90 8
2003 64 House 93 7 R 20 78 99 100 20
2004 65 House 92 7 R 30 70 98 95 4
2005 66 House 90 4 R 17 78 95 100 16
2006 67 House 92 6 R 18 74 99 95 20
2007 68 House 96 2 R 3 96 98 100 0
2008 69 House 98 1 R 14 83 99 100 0
2009 70 House 99 1 D 97 3 98 95 4
2010 71 House 94 2 D 85 10 96 100 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   9%


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.