RightDataUSA


Chris Shays

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 18, 1945 in Stamford, CT

Education:

  • Principia College, B.A., 1968
  • New York University, M.B.A., 1974, M.P.A., 1978

Career:

  • Peace Corps, 1968-1970
  • Aide to Mayor of Trumbull, 1971-1972

Elected Office:

  • CT House, 1975-1987


Election Results for Chris Shays


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1987 41 CT R U.S. House District 04 Special Primary 1 11,142 38.5%
1987 41 CT R U.S. House District 04 Special 1 50,518 57.2%
1988 42 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 147,843 71.8%
1990 44 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 105,682 76.5%
1992 46 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 147,816 67.3%
1994 48 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 109,436 74.4%
1996 50 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 121,949 60.5%
1998 52 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 94,767 69.1%
2000 54 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 119,155 57.6%
2002 56 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 113,197 64.4%
2004 58 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 152,493 52.4%
2006 60 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 1 106,510 51.0%
2008 62 CT R U.S. House District 04 General 2 146,854 47.6%
2012 66 CT R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 2 30,802 27.2%


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



Ideology Data for Chris Shays


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
1987 41 House 25 75 53 47 R 32 68 100 89 67
1988 42 House 61 39 59 41 R 42 58 100 90 24
1989 43 House 46 54 54 46 R 36 64 100 85 29
1990 44 House 41 59 60 40 R 34 66 100 72 25
1991 45 House 57 43 65 35 R 58 42 100 60 50
1992 46 House 42 58 62 38 R 40 60 100 65 38
1993 47 House 36 64 63 37 D 55 45 100 60 58
1994 48 House 42 58 67 33 D 56 44 100 53 38
1995 49 House 49 51 71 29 D 44 56 100 40 40
1996 50 House 33 67 69 31 D 53 47 100 30 60
1997 51 House 51 47 66 34 D 55 45 99 55 56
1998 52 House 50 50 58 42 D 57 43 99 45 40
1999 53 House 66 33 D 41 57 99 55 44
2000 54 House 67 27 D 42 56 92 42 60
2001 55 House 75 25 R 65 35 99 35 32
2002 56 House 80 20 R 79 21 97 20 76
2003 57 House 78 21 R 67 33 98 30 52
2004 58 House 68 30 R 58 42 95 74 38
2005 59 House 64 31 R 57 43 95 58 21
2006 60 House 55 40 R 50 45 95 72 30
2007 61 House 62 32 R 29 64 94 55 22
2008 62 House 65 31 R 34 65 96 75 32
Lifetime conservative rating:   41%


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.