RightDataUSA


J.T. Rutherford

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 31, 1921 in Hot Springs, AR
Died: November 6, 2006 in Arlington, VA

Education:

  • Attended Baylor University Law School, 1948-1950

Military Service:

  • U.S. Marine Corps, 1942-1946
  • Awarded the Purple Heart medal
  • U.S. Marine Corps Reserve

Career:

  • Partner in industrial electrical construction firm
  • Owner of advertising company

Elected Office:

  • TX House, 1948-1952
  • TX Senate, 1952-1954


Election Results for J.T. Rutherford


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1954 33 TX D U.S. House District 16 Primary 1 25,213 50.1%
1954 33 TX D U.S. House District 16 General 1 25,122 100.0%
1956 35 TX D U.S. House District 16 Primary 1 40,696 68.9%
1956 35 TX D U.S. House District 16 General 1 50,704 64.6%
1958 37 TX D U.S. House District 16 General 1 28,744 100.0%
1960 39 TX D U.S. House District 16 General 1 63,634 58.9%
1962 41 TX D U.S. House District 16 Primary 1 28,902 51.7%
1962 41 TX D U.S. House District 16 General 2 37,821 46.2%


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



Ideology Data for J.T. Rutherford


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
1955 34 House 68 32 R 46 51 99 20
1956 35 House 59 22 R 50 41 89 29
1957 36 House 68 32 R 23 77 100 11
1958 37 House 70 30 R 46 54 100 42
1959 38 House 82 18 63 17 R 33 67 100 44
1960 39 House 47 53 80 18 R 44 53 98 44
1961 40 House 65 35 72 28 D 65 35 100 30 53
1962 41 House 75 25 58 40 D 62 38 98 13 60
Lifetime conservative rating:   57%


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.