RightDataUSA


Vernon Thomson

[Congressional biography]

Born: November 5, 1905 in Richland Center, WI
Died: April 2, 1988 in Washington, DC

Education:

  • Attended Carroll College, 1923-1925
  • University of Wisconsin, 1927, Law School, 1932

Career:

  • High school teacher, 1927-1929
  • Lawyer
  • Assistant Richland County district attorney, 1933-1935, 1942-1944
  • Member of Federal Election Commission, 1975-1979, 1981

Elected Office:

  • Mayor of Richland Center, 1944-1951
  • WI Assembly, 1935-1951 (Speaker, 1939-1945)
  • WI Attorney General 1951-1957


Election Results for Vernon Thomson


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1954 48 WI R Attorney General General 1 627,827 56.2%
1956 50 WI R Governor Primary 1 400,442 100.0%
1956 50 WI R Governor General 1 808,273 51.9%
1958 52 WI R Governor Primary 1 241,816 100.0%
1958 52 WI R Governor General 2 556,391 46.3%
1960 54 WI R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 17,630 52.8%
1960 54 WI R U.S. House District 03 General 1 71,677 54.6%
1962 56 WI R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 36,311 100.0%
1962 56 WI R U.S. House District 03 General 1 54,237 61.3%
1964 58 WI R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 39,911 100.0%
1964 58 WI R U.S. House District 03 General 1 91,092 60.6%
1966 60 WI R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 31,591 100.0%
1966 60 WI R U.S. House District 03 General 1 72,586 68.8%
1968 62 WI R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 39,032 100.0%
1968 62 WI R U.S. House District 03 General 1 95,606 63.7%
1970 64 WI R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 28,621 100.0%
1970 64 WI R U.S. House District 03 General 1 64,891 55.5%
1972 66 WI R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 34,720 79.3%
1972 66 WI R U.S. House District 03 General 1 112,905 54.7%
1974 68 WI R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 23,692 100.0%
1974 68 WI R U.S. House District 03 General 2 71,171 47.4%


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



Ideology Data for Vernon Thomson


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 55 House 100 0 83 17 D 35 65 100 0 87
1962 56 House 88 6 89 7 D 42 55 97 0 87
1963 57 House 87 7 81 9 D 30 61 91 9 80
1964 58 House 100 0 92 6 D 33 67 98 8 94
1965 59 House 96 2 88 6 D 37 56 94 0 94
1966 60 House 89 0 83 6 D 31 55 85 0 88
1967 61 House 80 9 84 7 D 36 56 91 7 92
1968 62 House 82 12 80 9 D 53 42 90 0 96
1969 63 House 80 18 75 24 R 66 32 96 0 53
1970 64 House 82 11 69 26 R 77 17 93 22 71
1971 65 House 89 11 78 22 R 79 19 98 11 60
1972 66 House 83 9 72 21 R 65 22 92 13 60
1973 67 House 77 17 73 22 R 70 28 96 22 48
1974 68 House 81 14 72 25 R 75 25 94 22 57
Lifetime conservative rating:   76%


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.