RightDataUSA


Bill Richardson

[Congressional biography]

Born: November 15, 1947 in Pasadena, CA
Died: September 1, 2023 in Chatham, MA

Education:

  • Tufts University, B.A., 1970
  • Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, M.A., 1971

Career:

  • U.S. State Department, 1973-1975
  • Staff, Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee, 1975-1978
  • Corporate president, 1978-1982
  • U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., 1997-1998
  • U.S. Secretary of Energy, 1988-2001


Election Results for Bill Richardson


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1980 32 NM D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 54,032 80.2%
1980 32 NM D U.S. House District 01 General 2 120,903 49.0%
1982 34 NM D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 23,123 36.2%
1982 34 NM D U.S. House District 03 General 1 84,669 64.5%
1984 36 NM D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 51,820 77.2%
1984 36 NM D U.S. House District 03 General 1 100,470 60.8%
1986 38 NM D U.S. House District 03 General 1 95,760 71.3%
1988 40 NM D U.S. House District 03 General 1 124,938 73.1%
1990 42 NM D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 59,104 100.0%
1990 42 NM D U.S. House District 03 General 1 104,225 74.5%
1992 44 NM D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 62,661 100.0%
1992 44 NM D U.S. House District 03 General 1 122,850 67.4%
1994 46 NM D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 65,450 100.0%
1994 46 NM D U.S. House District 03 General 1 99,900 63.6%
1996 48 NM D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 53,236 100.0%
1996 48 NM D U.S. House District 03 General 1 124,594 67.2%
2002 54 NM D Governor Primary 1 147,524 100.0%
2002 54 NM D Governor General 1 268,693 55.5%
2006 58 NM D Governor Primary 1 107,720 100.0%
2006 58 NM D Governor General 1 384,806 68.8%


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



Ideology Data for Bill Richardson


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
1983 35 House 29 71 87 9 R 16 82 96 95 14
1984 36 House 19 80 89 9 R 31 66 97 85 18
1985 37 House 33 65 89 6 R 25 71 95 70 16
1986 38 House 52 44 90 9 R 24 76 97 75 18
1987 39 House 58 42 88 9 R 26 71 97 80 9
1988 40 House 55 34 83 12 R 28 66 95 79 21
1989 41 House 54 46 86 11 R 37 58 96 70 21
1990 42 House 54 44 84 10 R 29 69 97 61 26
1991 43 House 54 46 91 8 R 33 67 99 50 20
1992 44 House 44 46 83 10 R 29 65 92 79 30
1993 45 House 50 45 89 7 D 90 8 97 75 17
1994 46 House 56 42 92 6 D 86 10 96 56 26
1995 47 House 52 41 82 13 D 84 14 95 80 12
1996 48 House 76 22 79 18 D 76 18 94 75 15
1997 49 House 1 0 D 0 0 1 0 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   19%


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.