RightDataUSA


Tom Ridge

[Congressional biography]

Born: August 26, 1945 in Munhall, PA

Education:

  • Cathedral Prep School (Erie, PA), 1963
  • Harvard University, B.A., 1967
  • Dickinson Law School, J.D., 1972

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1968-1970

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Erie County assistant district attorney, 1972-1982
  • Director, Office of Homeland Security, 2001-2003
  • Secretary of Homeland Security, 2003-2005


Election Results for Tom Ridge


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1982 36 PA R U.S. House District 21 Primary 1 14,211 48.3%
1982 36 PA R U.S. House District 21 General 1 80,180 50.2%
1984 38 PA R U.S. House District 21 Primary 1 32,277 100.0%
1984 38 PA R U.S. House District 21 General 1 125,730 65.4%
1986 40 PA R U.S. House District 21 General 1 111,148 80.9%
1988 42 PA R U.S. House District 21 General 1 141,832 78.7%
1990 44 PA R U.S. House District 21 General 1 92,732 100.0%
1992 46 PA R U.S. House District 21 General 1 150,729 68.0%
1994 48 PA R Governor Primary 1 344,708 34.6%
1994 48 PA R Governor General 1 1,627,976 45.4%
1998 52 PA R Governor Primary 1 501,532 99.2%
1998 52 PA R Governor General 1 1,736,844 57.4%


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



Ideology Data for Tom Ridge


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 37 House 66 31 56 40 R 51 46 94 35 41
1984 38 House 53 44 45 49 R 42 50 93 50 38
1985 39 House 58 36 60 35 R 44 54 96 30 47
1986 40 House 68 32 59 37 R 47 53 97 35 41
1987 41 House 56 42 59 34 R 40 56 93 48 19
1988 42 House 74 26 66 28 R 40 56 95 50 36
1989 43 House 76 24 69 27 R 56 43 95 45 57
1990 44 House 70 28 68 27 R 49 51 95 22 58
1991 45 House 89 8 66 27 R 58 41 93 16 70
1992 46 House 69 25 72 21 R 50 47 91 30 67
1993 47 House 86 7 73 19 D 46 44 90 10 78
1994 48 House 67 8 54 20 D 45 35 73 38 61
Lifetime conservative rating:   51%


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.