RightDataUSA


Mark Sanford

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 28, 1960 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Education:

  • Furman University, B.A., 1983
  • University of Virginia, M.B.A., 1988

Military Service:

  • U.S. Air Force Reserve, 2002-2011

Career:

  • Owner of real estate firm
  • Farmer


Election Results for Mark Sanford


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1994 34 SC R U.S. House District 01 Primary 2 10,568 19.1%
1994 34 SC R U.S. House District 01 Primary Runoff 1 30,304 52.0%
1994 34 SC R U.S. House District 01 General 1 97,803 66.3%
1996 36 SC R U.S. House District 01 General 1 138,467 96.4%
1998 38 SC R U.S. House District 01 General 1 118,414 91.0%
2002 42 SC R Governor Primary 1 122,143 38.6%
2002 42 SC R Governor Primary Runoff 1 183,820 60.1%
2002 42 SC R Governor General 1 585,422 52.8%
2006 46 SC R Governor Primary 1 160,238 64.8%
2006 46 SC R Governor General 1 601,868 55.1%
2013 53 SC R U.S. House District 01 Special Primary 1 19,854 36.9%
2013 53 SC R U.S. House District 01 Special Primary Runoff 1 26,127 56.6%
2013 53 SC R U.S. House District 01 Special 1 77,600 54.0%
2014 54 SC R U.S. House District 01 General 1 119,392 93.4%
2016 56 SC R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 21,299 55.6%
2016 56 SC R U.S. House District 01 General 1 190,410 58.6%
2018 58 SC R U.S. House District 01 Primary 2 30,496 46.5%


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



Ideology Data for Mark Sanford


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
1995 35 House 77 23 89 11 D 24 76 99 15 88
1996 36 House 61 35 84 16 D 43 54 99 10 95
1997 37 House 71 29 87 11 D 24 75 98 20 88
1998 38 House 74 26 76 23 D 33 67 98 20 72
1999 39 House 85 15 D 26 72 98 15 92
2000 40 House 84 14 D 28 66 97 21 77
2013 53 House 73 8 D 12 74 77 18 100
2014 54 House 90 10 D 16 83 99 20 88
2015 55 House 87 11 D 18 80 97 5 96
2016 56 House 88 9 D 13 85 97 5 96
2017 57 House 88 7 R 81 19 96 5 91
2018 58 House 82 16 R 56 44 97 42 84
Lifetime conservative rating:   89%


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.