RightDataUSA


Mendel Rivers

[Congressional biography]

Born: September 28, 1905 in Gumville, SC
Died: December 28, 1970 in Birmingham, AL

Education:

  • Attended College of Charleston and University of South Carolina

Career:

  • Lawyer

Elected Office:

  • SC House, 1933-1936


Election Results for Mendel Rivers


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1940 34 SC D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 18,253 54.2%
1940 34 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 16,626 98.4%
1942 36 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 5,452 100.0%
1944 38 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 15,236 92.8%
1946 40 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 5,354 99.5%
1948 42 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 24,529 89.1%
1950 44 SC D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 44,474 85.8%
1950 44 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 6,753 100.0%
1952 46 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 30,483 100.0%
1954 48 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 33,402 97.7%
1956 50 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 31,112 100.0%
1958 52 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 13,538 100.0%
1960 54 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 47,153 100.0%
1962 56 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 39,176 100.0%
1964 58 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 56,152 99.6%
1966 60 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 59,055 100.0%
1968 62 SC D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 65,817 77.7%
1968 62 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 95,478 100.0%
1970 64 SC D U.S. House District 01 General 1 63,891 100.0%


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



Ideology Data for Mendel Rivers


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
1941 35 House 67 4 D 74
1942 36 House 75 10 D 75
1943 37 House 71 10 D 77
1944 38 House 40 37 D 85
1945 39 House 44 12 D 51
1946 40 House 36 34 D 68
1947 41 House 37 21 D 62 63
1948 42 House 56 22 D 58 20
1949 43 House 29 48 D 61 0
1950 44 House 26 33 D 51 0
1951 45 House 34 28 D 49 18
1952 46 House 41 30 D 65 8
1953 47 House 42 37 R 75 62 25
1954 48 House 33 37 R 50 37 66 38
1955 49 House 55 16 R 41 29 63 29
1956 50 House 56 9 R 41 47 79 33
1957 51 House 58 24 R 30 53 75 11
1958 52 House 49 27 R 20 42 68 9
1959 53 House 91 9 77 12 R 28 59 86 38
1960 54 House 79 0 43 41 R 37 51 82 11
1961 55 House 78 4 38 48 D 34 46 81 11 71
1962 56 House 75 6 51 35 D 52 32 74 33 58
1963 57 House 67 7 52 21 D 51 24 73 36 54
1964 58 House 67 25 60 26 D 67 23 85 46 33
1965 59 House 73 2 30 40 D 40 35 71 6 79
1966 60 House 62 14 38 30 D 37 23 69 13 50
1967 61 House 80 9 42 40 D 46 39 81 13 100
1968 62 House 59 8 32 33 D 46 26 67 20 56
1969 63 House 58 18 38 31 R 49 26 71 0 77
1970 64 House 38 31 R 45 22 61 0 69
Lifetime conservative rating:   63%


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.