RightDataUSA


Richard Schweiker

[Congressional biography]

Born: June 1, 1926 in Norristown, PA
Died: July 31, 2015 in Pomona, NJ (complications from infection)

Education:

  • Penn State University, 1950

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1944-1946

Career:

  • Manufacturing executive
  • U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 1981-1983
  • President of American Council of Life Insurance, 1983-1994

Elected Office:

  • Candidate for U.S. Vice-President, 1976


Election Results for Richard Schweiker


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1960 34 PA R U.S. House District 13 Primary 1 38,166 53.3%
1960 34 PA R U.S. House District 13 General 1 142,966 61.8%
1962 36 PA R U.S. House District 13 General 1 135,847 66.6%
1964 38 PA R U.S. House District 13 General 1 139,817 59.1%
1966 40 PA R U.S. House District 13 Primary 1 55,418 74.1%
1966 40 PA R U.S. House District 13 General 1 134,414 72.5%
1968 42 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 2,399,762 51.9%
1974 48 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 1,843,317 53.0%


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



Ideology Data for Richard Schweiker


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
1961 35 House 65 35 76 24 D 51 48 99 40 47
1962 36 House 44 56 74 26 D 62 37 99 38 47
1963 37 House 60 40 64 36 D 55 45 100 33 75
1964 38 House 42 58 66 32 D 58 40 99 23 56
1965 39 House 39 61 42 54 D 72 26 98 47 59
1966 40 House 35 65 56 44 D 65 35 100 47 59
1967 41 House 52 41 54 43 D 63 33 95 43 50
1968 42 House 24 51 23 37 D 50 15 63 45 42
1969 43 Senate 33 65 37 60 R 68 32 98 78 33
1970 44 Senate 39 61 36 63 R 59 40 95 70 36
1971 45 Senate 46 52 48 51 R 49 49 98 70 25
1972 46 Senate 27 73 34 66 R 52 48 99 60 0
1973 47 Senate 24 73 24 75 R 42 57 99 79 20
1974 48 Senate 19 77 19 76 R 33 59 95 81* 25
1975 49 Senate 5 93 18 81 R 42 56 98 89 10
1976 50 Senate 27 64 20 73 R 42 55 91 84 16
1977 51 Senate 78 22 67 33 D 59 36 99 15 46
1978 52 Senate 65 28 71 25 D 36 58 96 20 79
1979 53 Senate 70 21 72 22 D 39 56 94 17 88
1980 54 Senate 74 13 65 21 D 43 50 91 19 85
Lifetime conservative rating:   45%


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.