RightDataUSA


Larry Pressler

[Congressional biography]

Born: March 29, 1942 in Sioux Falls, SD

Education:

  • University of South Dakota, B.A., 1964
  • Attended Oxford University, 1966
  • Harvard University, J.D., 1971

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1966-1968 (Vietnam)

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Advisor to U.S. Secretary of State, 1971-1974


Election Results for Larry Pressler


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1974 32 SD R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 22,724 50.1%
1974 32 SD R U.S. House District 01 General 1 78,266 55.3%
1976 34 SD R U.S. House District 01 General 1 121,587 79.8%
1978 36 SD R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 66,893 73.9%
1978 36 SD R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 170,832 66.8%
1984 42 SD R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 235,176 74.5%
1990 48 SD R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 135,682 52.4%
1996 54 SD R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 2 157,954 48.7%
2002 60 SD R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 2 29,992 27.2%
2014 72 SD I U.S. Senate Class 2 General 3 47,741 17.1%


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



Ideology Data for Larry Pressler


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
1975 33 House 66 31 58 39 R 40 58 95 58* 54
1976 34 House 69 28 54 43 R 47 51 96 30 57
1977 35 House 64 26 62 26 D 42 47 87 39 70
1978 36 House 46 30 46 31 D 29 46 73 38 64
1979 37 Senate 51 34 52 27 D 39 40 80 35 70
1980 38 Senate 56 23 59 18 D 36 41 75 25 62
1981 39 Senate 63 27 58 32 R 61 24 89 33 43
1982 40 Senate 77 13 67 20 R 70 24 90 11 71
1983 41 Senate 80 16 64 31 R 59 31 95 22 57
1984 42 Senate 72 23 50 44 R 61 39 94 47 45
1985 43 Senate 78 15 72 24 R 74 25 95 10 76
1986 44 Senate 82 16 72 25 R 77 20 95 11 85
1987 45 Senate 81 13 75 20 R 63 37 96 25 81
1988 46 Senate 97 3 88 10 R 73 25 96 0 96
1989 47 Senate 61 39 75 25 R 59 41 100 35 76
1990 48 Senate 49 46 74 22 R 58 39 96 22 83
1991 49 Senate 85 15 89 10 R 88 12 99 5 86
1992 50 Senate 84 16 91 9 R 73 27 100 20 85
1993 51 Senate 95 5 91 6 D 25 74 98 10 96
1994 52 Senate 84 16 89 11 D 34 66 98 0 96
1995 53 Senate 89 11 94 6 D 21 79 99 0 96
1996 54 Senate 92 8 94 6 D 39 61 100 5 95
Lifetime conservative rating:   75%


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.