RightDataUSA


Nick Rahall

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 20, 1949 in Beckley, WV

Education:

  • Duke University, A.B., 1971
  • Attended George Washington University, 1972

Career:

  • Asst. to WV Sen. Robert Byrd, 1971-1974
  • Corporate president/director


Election Results for Nick Rahall


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1976 27 WV D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 33,742 37.4%
1976 27 WV D U.S. House District 04 General 1 73,626 45.6%
1978 29 WV D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 41,926 56.1%
1978 29 WV D U.S. House District 04 General 1 70,035 100.0%
1980 31 WV D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 61,228 100.0%
1980 31 WV D U.S. House District 04 General 1 117,595 76.6%
1982 33 WV D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 53,440 100.0%
1982 33 WV D U.S. House District 04 General 1 91,184 80.5%
1984 35 WV D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 76,725 100.0%
1984 35 WV D U.S. House District 04 General 1 98,919 66.7%
1986 37 WV D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 56,603 100.0%
1986 37 WV D U.S. House District 04 General 1 58,217 71.3%
1988 39 WV D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 56,996 72.7%
1988 39 WV D U.S. House District 04 General 1 78,812 61.3%
1990 41 WV D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 37,581 56.8%
1990 41 WV D U.S. House District 04 General 1 39,948 52.0%
1992 43 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 73,378 100.0%
1992 43 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 122,279 65.6%
1994 45 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 65,974 100.0%
1994 45 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 74,967 63.9%
1996 47 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 99,251 100.0%
1996 47 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 145,550 100.0%
1998 49 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 69,434 81.8%
1998 49 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 78,814 86.6%
2000 51 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 87,959 100.0%
2000 51 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 146,807 91.3%
2002 53 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 72,655 100.0%
2002 53 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 87,783 70.2%
2004 55 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 78,001 100.0%
2004 55 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 142,682 65.2%
2006 57 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 60,396 100.0%
2006 57 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 92,413 69.4%
2008 59 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 100,845 100.0%
2008 59 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 133,522 66.9%
2010 61 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 44,929 67.5%
2010 61 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 83,636 56.0%
2012 63 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 66,745 100.0%
2012 63 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 1 108,223 54.0%
2014 65 WV D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 37,176 66.5%
2014 65 WV D U.S. House District 03 General 2 62,688 44.6%


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



Ideology Data for Nick Rahall


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
1977 28 House 42 53 70 24 D 67 25 93 55 28
1978 29 House 27 60 69 16 D 62 29 85 60 22
1979 30 House 38 60 77 18 D 59 34 92 74 15
1980 31 House 40 59 79 17 D 77 18 92 71 24
1981 32 House 37 53 77 17 R 37 53 92 75 18
1982 33 House 23 55 77 10 R 29 58 83 94 10
1983 34 House 29 62 76 16 R 15 78 91 89 9
1984 35 House 22 64 83 9 R 32 58 92 78 5
1985 36 House 25 75 88 6 R 20 79 94 80 5
1986 37 House 34 66 90 6 R 21 76 96 90 9
1987 38 House 35 65 87 10 R 24 71 96 79 4
1988 39 House 39 50 85 11 R 25 64 94 80 20
1989 40 House 34 63 80 15 R 40 58 95 89 19
1990 41 House 37 63 79 16 R 14 81 95 78 13
1991 42 House 49 46 85 11 R 36 59 96 68 21
1992 43 House 35 60 79 17 R 25 69 96 70 21
1993 44 House 66 34 76 20 D 64 34 97 70 30
1994 45 House 47 53 86 13 D 64 35 99 74 24
1995 46 House 36 64 79 20 D 74 26 99 74 28
1996 47 House 51 49 81 19 D 70 30 100 75 20
1997 48 House 53 40 71 27 D 61 39 98 80 21
1998 49 House 52 48 76 21 D 74 22 97 85 24
1999 50 House 74 23 D 72 28 97 68 20
2000 51 House 79 21 D 72 28 99 70 28
2001 52 House 76 22 R 33 65 97 84 36
2002 53 House 88 12 R 29 71 98 80 24
2003 54 House 89 11 R 35 65 100 85 40
2004 55 House 84 12 R 45 45 94 79 28
2005 56 House 85 13 R 33 65 97 89 44
2006 57 House 82 18 R 50 50 99 65 48
2007 58 House 94 6 R 8 92 99 85 16
2008 59 House 96 3 R 19 80 99 89 8
2009 60 House 96 3 D 94 6 99 85 12
2010 61 House 91 6 D 85 12 98 60 8
2011 62 House 70 28 D 65 34 98 65 24
2012 63 House 81 19 D 66 34 99 75 24
2013 64 House 74 25 D 58 42 99 60 24
2014 65 House 65 35 D 30 70 99 15 32
Lifetime conservative rating:   22%


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.