RightDataUSA


Jim Talent

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 18, 1956 in Des Peres, MO

Education:

  • Washington University, B.S., 1978
  • University of Chicago, J.D., 1981

Career:

  • Law clerk, 1982-1983
  • Adjunct professor, Washington University School of Law, 1984-1986

Elected Office:

  • MO House, 1985-1993


Election Results for Jim Talent


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1992 35 MO R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 35,791 58.1%
1992 35 MO R U.S. House District 02 General 1 157,594 50.4%
1994 37 MO R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 44,858 100.0%
1994 37 MO R U.S. House District 02 General 1 154,882 67.3%
1996 39 MO R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 29,219 100.0%
1996 39 MO R U.S. House District 02 General 1 165,999 61.3%
1998 41 MO R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 26,908 90.0%
1998 41 MO R U.S. House District 02 General 1 142,313 70.0%
2000 43 MO R Governor Primary 1 296,159 84.5%
2000 43 MO R Governor General 2 1,131,307 48.2%
2002 45 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 Special Primary 1 395,994 44.8%
2002 45 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 Special 1 935,032 49.8%
2006 49 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 289,573 88.9%
2006 49 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 2 1,006,941 47.3%


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



Ideology Data for Jim Talent


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
1993 36 House 86 9 91 7 D 33 65 97 10 96
1994 37 House 97 3 94 5 D 50 49 99 5 95
1995 38 House 97 3 97 2 D 15 85 99 0 96
1996 39 House 86 10 90 6 D 30 66 96 11 100
1997 40 House 82 16 94 5 D 27 72 98 5 100
1998 41 House 93 5 93 7 D 20 79 99 5 96
1999 42 House 91 8 D 20 74 99 15 84
2000 43 House 84 5 D 24 70 82 11 92
2003 46 Senate 96 4 R 95 2 99 5 85
2004 47 Senate 96 4 R 93 5 99 20 96
2005 48 Senate 84 16 R 93 7 100 15 84
2006 49 Senate 84 16 R 79 17 99 0 92
Lifetime conservative rating:   93%


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.