RightDataUSA


Tom Petri

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 28, 1940 in Marinette, WI

Education:

  • Harvard University, A.B., 1962, J.D., 1965

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Law clerk, 1965-1966
  • Peace Corps volunteer, 1966-1967
  • White House aide, 1969-1970

Elected Office:

  • WI Senate, 1973-1979


Election Results for Tom Petri


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1974 34 WI R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 130,523 85.2%
1974 34 WI R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 2 429,327 35.8%
1979 39 WI R U.S. House District 06 Special Primary 1 22,293 35.3%
1979 39 WI R U.S. House District 06 Special 1 71,715 50.0%
1980 40 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 43,628 100.0%
1980 40 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 143,980 59.3%
1982 42 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 46,423 100.0%
1982 42 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 111,348 65.0%
1984 44 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 34,381 100.0%
1984 44 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 170,271 75.8%
1986 46 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 43,513 100.0%
1986 46 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 124,328 96.6%
1988 48 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 53,101 100.0%
1988 48 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 165,923 74.2%
1990 50 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 33,127 100.0%
1990 50 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 111,036 99.5%
1992 52 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 35,499 100.0%
1992 52 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 143,875 52.9%
1994 54 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 45,645 99.7%
1994 54 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 119,384 99.5%
1996 56 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 33,271 99.9%
1996 56 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 169,213 73.0%
1998 58 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 38,218 99.9%
1998 58 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 144,144 92.6%
2000 60 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 31,113 86.8%
2000 60 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 179,205 65.0%
2002 62 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 45,042 99.8%
2002 62 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 169,834 99.2%
2004 64 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 52,439 100.0%
2004 64 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 238,620 67.0%
2006 66 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 34,527 100.0%
2006 66 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 201,367 98.9%
2008 68 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 21,839 100.0%
2008 68 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 221,875 63.7%
2010 70 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 77,992 100.0%
2010 70 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 183,271 70.7%
2012 72 WI R U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 73,376 82.2%
2012 72 WI R U.S. House District 06 General 1 223,460 62.1%


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



Ideology Data for Tom Petri


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
1979 39 House 72 27 74 24 D 38 58 96 39 64
1980 40 House 77 20 77 20 D 50 46 95 41 53
1981 41 House 67 32 71 23 R 57 41 93 40 100
1982 42 House 70 30 71 28 R 53 40 97 35 64
1983 43 House 72 28 76 23 R 60 39 99 20 55
1984 44 House 75 25 76 24 R 54 46 100 20 83
1985 45 House 60 40 60 35 R 61 39 97 30 63
1986 46 House 76 24 74 25 R 73 27 99 5 73
1987 47 House 67 30 70 28 R 55 43 98 16 61
1988 48 House 84 13 66 32 R 62 36 98 35 76
1989 49 House 76 24 67 33 R 66 34 100 20 75
1990 50 House 80 19 78 20 R 69 31 97 22 75
1991 51 House 89 11 69 30 R 68 32 99 10 85
1992 52 House 73 25 73 27 R 67 33 99 25 75
1993 53 House 75 25 84 14 D 33 65 98 20 83
1994 54 House 81 19 93 7 D 41 59 99 26 76
1995 55 House 72 27 88 11 D 30 68 99 5 75
1996 56 House 65 35 82 17 D 46 54 99 20 100
1997 57 House 75 25 83 16 D 29 71 99 25 80
1998 58 House 71 29 85 14 D 30 68 99 15 88
1999 59 House 87 13 D 28 72 99 20 80
2000 60 House 89 11 D 26 74 99 10 84
2001 61 House 89 11 R 81 16 99 25 72
2002 62 House 85 14 R 82 18 99 10 80
2003 63 House 86 13 R 84 16 99 20 84
2004 64 House 88 11 R 82 18 99 20 80
2005 65 House 88 12 R 80 20 99 5 72
2006 66 House 89 10 R 84 13 99 5 76
2007 67 House 89 11 R 66 34 99 30 72
2008 68 House 91 9 R 60 39 99 40 80
2009 69 House 89 11 D 28 72 99 10 92
2010 70 House 94 6 D 39 61 98 10 88
2011 71 House 90 10 D 19 80 99 15 72
2012 72 House 93 7 D 14 86 99 5 76
2013 73 House 91 9 D 12 88 100 10 76
2014 74 House 92 7 D 12 85 99 11 75
Lifetime conservative rating:   76%


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.