RightDataUSA


Richard Shelby

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 6, 1934 in Birmingham, AL

Education:

  • University of Alabama, B.A., 1957, LL.B., 1963

Career:

  • Lawyer, 1963-1978
  • City Prosecutor, Tuscaloosa, 1963-1971
  • U.S. Magistrate, 1966-1970
  • Special Asst. to AL Attorney General, 1969-1971

Elected Office:

  • AL Senate, 1970-1978

Other notes:

  • Changed party affiliation from Democrat to Republican on November 9, 1994


Election Results for Richard Shelby


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1978 44 AL D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 46,706 48.5%
1978 44 AL D U.S. House District 07 Primary Runoff 1 75,329 58.9%
1978 44 AL D U.S. House District 07 General 1 77,742 93.8%
1980 46 AL D U.S. House District 07 General 1 122,505 72.6%
1982 48 AL D U.S. House District 07 Primary 1 80,265 64.6%
1982 48 AL D U.S. House District 07 General 1 124,070 96.8%
1984 50 AL D U.S. House District 07 General 1 135,834 96.8%
1986 52 AL D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 420,155 51.3%
1986 52 AL D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 609,360 50.3%
1992 58 AL D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 304,957 61.5%
1992 58 AL D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 1,022,698 64.8%
1998 64 AL R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 817,973 63.2%
2004 70 AL R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 1,242,200 66.0%
2010 76 AL R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 405,398 84.4%
2010 76 AL R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 968,181 65.2%
2016 82 AL R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 505,586 64.9%
2016 82 AL R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 1,335,104 64.0%


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



Ideology Data for Richard Shelby


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
1979 45 House 97 3 35 64 D 36 63 99 5 76
1980 46 House 89 5 38 59 D 48 49 97 11 68
1981 47 House 93 4 25 71 R 76 21 94 0 92
1982 48 House 86 10 35 63 R 60 40 96 10 73
1983 49 House 76 20 43 54 R 54 44 97 26 73
1984 50 House 78 12 44 45 R 43 45 86 17 55
1985 51 House 85 13 60 31 R 52 41 92 25 63
1986 52 House 84 8 58 33 R 44 49 92 42 55
1987 53 Senate 75 16 61 36 R 47 50 95 50 43
1988 54 Senate 92 5 56 43 R 57 43 99 35 60
1989 55 Senate 95 5 46 54 R 68 32 100 25 60
1990 56 Senate 95 5 59 41 R 55 45 100 33 48
1991 57 Senate 83 18 54 46 R 69 31 100 35 76
1992 58 Senate 89 11 45 55 R 65 35 100 30 62
1993 59 Senate 93 5 36 61 D 45 53 98 37 64
1994 60 Senate 78 3 41 41 D 53 26 83 33 55
1995 61 Senate 91 5 88 10 D 29 68 97 5 91
1996 62 Senate 87 8 92 6 D 32 64 98 5 90
1997 63 Senate 96 4 93 7 D 57 43 100 5 92
1998 64 Senate 100 0 91 9 D 33 65 99 5 92
1999 65 Senate 89 11 89 10 D 38 62 98 10 84
2000 66 Senate 97 3 97 3 D 45 55 100 0 100
2001 67 Senate 88 12 R 96 4 99 5 100
2002 68 Senate 74 19 R 78 11 95 12 89
2003 69 Senate 94 4 R 94 4 98 11 75
2004 70 Senate 94 6 R 88 12 100 20 84
2005 71 Senate 94 6 R 87 13 99 10 88
2006 72 Senate 86 11 R 86 14 97 11 74
2007 73 Senate 88 12 R 81 19 99 15 88
2008 74 Senate 94 5 R 70 30 99 15 84
2009 75 Senate 83 17 D 59 41 100 10 88
2010 76 Senate 94 4 D 41 57 98 0 96
2011 77 Senate 91 9 D 52 48 99 5 90
2012 78 Senate 89 10 D 48 51 99 0 76
2013 79 Senate 89 8 D 35 62 98 11 76
2014 80 Senate 95 5 D 49 51 99 15 88
2015 81 Senate 92 5 D 34 62 98 0 96
2016 82 Senate 88 4 D 45 52 92 0 83
2017 83 Senate 98 1 R 97 1 99 0 80
2018 84 Senate 96 4 R 99 0 99 5 68
2019 85 Senate 97 3 R 98 2 99 0 67
2020 86 Senate 98 1 R 96 4 99 0 78
2021 87 Senate 89 3 D 27 59 93 0 75
2022 88 Senate 88 5 D 9 86 93 72
Lifetime conservative rating:   77%


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.