RightDataUSA


John Riley

[Congressional biography]

Born: February 1, 1895 near Orangeburg, SC
Died: January 1, 1962 in Surfside, SC

Education:

  • Wofford College, 1915

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1918-1919

Career:

  • School teacher, 1915-1917
  • Instructor at Clemson A&M College, 1917-1918
  • Real estate/insurance businessman, 1919-1945
  • Secretary of building & loan association, 1923-1945

Other notes:

  • Husband of Corrine Riley


Election Results for John Riley


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1944 49 SC D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 11,772 52.2%
1944 49 SC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 19,342 98.0%
1946 51 SC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 4,795 98.6%
1948 53 SC D U.S. House District 02 Primary 2 29,045 46.3%
1950 55 SC D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 29,066 46.0%
1950 55 SC D U.S. House District 02 Primary Runoff 1 28,864 60.3%
1950 55 SC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 9,747 100.0%
1952 57 SC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 42,201 100.0%
1954 59 SC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 44,484 97.7%
1956 61 SC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 49,284 100.0%
1958 63 SC D U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 53,268 76.5%
1958 63 SC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 13,677 100.0%
1960 65 SC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 63,207 100.0%


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



Ideology Data for John Riley


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
1945 50 House 76 14 D 92
1946 51 House 64 36 D 98
1947 52 House 61 24 D 85 67
1948 53 House 69 17 D 81 64
1951 56 House 72 27 D 98 38
1952 57 House 61 27 D 83 15
1953 58 House 74 21 R 55 92 36
1954 59 House 57 23 R 45 34 71 29
1955 60 House 52 42 R 46 41 92 30
1956 61 House 69 13 R 47 47 88 57
1957 62 House 68 22 R 37 60 94 11
1958 63 House 51 43 R 32 66 90 8
1959 64 House 100 0 67 25 R 37 56 88 11
1960 65 House 79 11 45 47 R 28 72 92 11
1961 66 House 78 0 31 48 D 34 48 81 0 85
Lifetime conservative rating:   85%


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.