RightDataUSA


Chris Smith

[Congressional biography]

Born: March 4, 1953 in Rahway, NJ

Education:

  • Trenton State College, B.S., 1975

Career:

  • Sales executive, 1975-1980
  • Executive Director, NJ Right to Life, 1976-1978


Election Results for Chris Smith


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1978 25 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 6,549 100.0%
1978 25 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 2 41,833 36.9%
1980 27 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 8,121 82.9%
1980 27 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 95,447 56.6%
1982 29 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 15,295 100.0%
1982 29 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 85,660 52.7%
1984 31 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 13,049 100.0%
1984 31 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 139,295 61.3%
1986 33 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 8,008 100.0%
1986 33 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 78,699 61.1%
1988 35 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 12,974 100.0%
1988 35 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 155,283 65.7%
1990 37 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 10,704 100.0%
1990 37 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 99,920 62.7%
1992 39 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 19,085 100.0%
1992 39 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 149,095 61.8%
1994 41 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 15,358 100.0%
1994 41 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 109,818 67.9%
1996 43 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 17,080 100.0%
1996 43 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 146,404 63.6%
1998 45 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 10,526 100.0%
1998 45 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 92,991 62.2%
2000 47 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 20,062 100.0%
2000 47 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 158,515 63.2%
2002 49 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 19,667 100.0%
2002 49 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 115,293 66.1%
2004 51 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 14,376 100.0%
2004 51 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 192,671 67.0%
2006 53 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 16,109 100.0%
2006 53 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 124,482 65.7%
2008 55 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 16,818 100.0%
2008 55 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 202,972 66.2%
2010 57 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 21,723 68.8%
2010 57 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 129,752 69.4%
2012 59 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 21,520 83.6%
2012 59 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 195,145 63.7%
2014 61 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 14,810 100.0%
2014 61 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 118,826 68.0%
2016 63 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 41,789 92.0%
2016 63 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 211,992 63.7%
2018 65 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 25,930 100.0%
2018 65 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 163,065 55.4%
2020 67 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 51,636 94.8%
2020 67 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 254,103 59.9%
2022 69 NJ R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 33,136 57.8%
2022 69 NJ R U.S. House District 04 General 1 170,423 67.1%


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



Ideology Data for Chris Smith


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
1981 28 House 67 33 65 35 R 64 36 99 40 83
1982 29 House 52 47 41 57 R 49 51 98 50 41
1983 30 House 60 39 44 56 R 50 50 99 40 45
1984 31 House 63 37 45 48 R 56 44 95 45 41
1985 32 House 55 44 43 53 R 45 55 97 65 53
1986 33 House 60 40 32 66 R 46 54 99 45 45
1987 34 House 77 23 39 59 R 38 62 99 52 39
1988 35 House 68 32 44 53 R 40 59 98 60 48
1989 36 House 66 34 36 61 R 55 44 98 45 43
1990 37 House 56 44 44 54 R 43 56 98 56 63
1991 38 House 73 24 58 40 R 62 37 98 45 60
1992 39 House 83 17 61 37 R 61 38 97 40 67
1993 40 House 89 11 69 28 D 52 46 98 30 71
1994 41 House 72 25 64 34 D 53 45 98 33 70
1995 42 House 86 14 83 14 D 31 68 98 20 64
1996 43 House 69 22 79 18 D 44 52 96 32 80
1997 44 House 73 25 80 18 D 36 63 96 30 64
1998 45 House 69 29 78 21 D 27 72 98 25 72
1999 46 House 75 23 D 26 72 97 40 79
2000 47 House 72 27 D 36 64 99 30 64
2001 48 House 83 16 R 70 30 99 30 56
2002 49 House 88 11 R 82 18 98 11 80
2003 50 House 81 15 R 76 22 97 30 75
2004 51 House 76 22 R 67 30 98 40 54
2005 52 House 77 21 R 59 39 99 26 60
2006 53 House 70 27 R 68 32 97 30 68
2007 54 House 60 38 R 34 64 98 55 44
2008 55 House 65 31 R 30 67 97 74 28
2009 56 House 63 35 D 67 33 96 30 64
2010 57 House 84 16 D 39 61 99 15 67
2011 58 House 79 19 D 27 72 98 30 44
2012 59 House 80 18 D 22 76 98 11 52
2013 60 House 84 13 D 21 79 97 26 54
2014 61 House 86 12 D 20 79 98 10 56
2015 62 House 85 14 D 14 85 99 15 48
2016 63 House 86 13 D 13 87 98 0 48
2017 64 House 82 17 R 69 28 99 32 35
2018 65 House 83 16 R 96 4 99 25 40
2019 66 House 63 34 R 63 37 95 40 55
2020 67 House 63 34 R 50 47 98 53 36
2021 68 House 80 18 D 44 56 98 20 54
2022 69 House 82 17 D 40 60 99 71
2023 70 House 80 19 D 98 61
2024 71 House 83 13 D 96 86
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.