RightDataUSA


John Porter

[Congressional biography]

Born: June 1, 1935 in Evanston, IL
Died: June 3, 2022 in Fairfax County, VA (pneumonia)

Education:

  • Attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1953-1954
  • Northwestern University, B.S., B.A., 1957
  • University of Michigan, J.D., 1961

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army Reseve, 1958-1964

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • U.S. Department of Justice attorney, 1961-1963

Elected Office:

  • IL House, 1973-1979


Election Results for John Porter


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1978 43 IL R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 16,026 50.4%
1978 43 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 2 88,829 49.8%
1980 45 IL R U.S. House District 10 Special Primary 1 18,423 71.1%
1980 45 IL R U.S. House District 10 Special 1 36,981 54.5%
1980 45 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 137,707 60.7%
1982 47 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 90,750 59.0%
1984 49 IL R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 34,761 100.0%
1984 49 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 153,330 72.6%
1986 51 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 87,530 75.1%
1988 53 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 158,519 72.5%
1990 55 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 104,070 67.8%
1992 57 IL R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 32,959 60.1%
1992 57 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 155,230 64.5%
1994 59 IL R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 28,467 66.3%
1994 59 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 114,884 75.1%
1996 61 IL R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 33,530 68.3%
1996 61 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 145,626 69.1%
1998 63 IL R U.S. House District 10 Primary 1 41,739 100.0%
1998 63 IL R U.S. House District 10 General 1 138,429 100.0%


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



Ideology Data for John Porter


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
1980 45 House 62 37 72 28 D 57 43 98 39 47
1981 46 House 61 36 65 33 R 68 32 95 32 67
1982 47 House 62 32 66 28 R 60 32 94 35 67
1983 48 House 67 30 69 29 R 73 22 96 25 55
1984 49 House 80 19 65 31 R 58 40 95 40 43
1985 50 House 73 25 71 25 R 68 30 96 20 68
1986 51 House 68 32 68 28 R 59 39 96 15 64
1987 52 House 81 19 69 25 R 54 41 94 21 62
1988 53 House 82 18 71 22 R 57 42 97 30 68
1989 54 House 71 24 54 41 R 65 35 93 32 63
1990 55 House 70 30 69 29 R 65 33 97 22 67
1991 56 House 78 22 69 27 R 67 30 96 30 80
1992 57 House 60 31 73 23 R 62 33 95 33 73
1993 58 House 61 36 71 24 D 45 50 95 25 71
1994 59 House 61 39 71 27 D 54 45 97 32 52
1995 60 House 77 22 81 18 D 37 62 98 25 48
1996 61 House 57 41 79 18 D 42 57 97 25 80
1997 62 House 75 22 73 23 D 47 49 96 42 46
1998 63 House 79 21 69 30 D 39 57 98 16 46
1999 64 House 61 35 D 44 52 96 60 44
2000 65 House 62 33 D 48 50 94 45 52
Lifetime conservative rating:   60%


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.