RightDataUSA


William Wampler

[Congressional biography]

Born: April 21, 1926 in Pennington Gap, VA
Died: May 23, 2012 in Bristol, VA

Education:

  • Virginia Tech University, 1948
  • Attended University of Virginia, 1948-1950

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1943-1945
  • U.S. Naval Reserve

Career:

  • Reporter for Bristol Va.-Tennessean, 1950-1952
  • Reporter/editorialist for Big Stone Gap Post, 1951
  • Reporter/editor for Bristol Herald Courier, 1951-1952
  • Served on Atomic Energy Commission, 1955-1956
  • VP of Wampler Brothers Furniture Co., 1957-1960
  • GM of Wampler Carpet Co., 1961-1966


Election Results for William Wampler


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1952 26 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 1 35,047 51.7%
1954 28 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 2 38,239 49.2%
1956 30 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 2 41,957 45.9%
1966 40 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 1 49,413 53.7%
1968 42 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 1 71,531 59.9%
1970 44 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 1 53,960 60.9%
1972 46 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 1 98,178 71.9%
1974 48 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 1 68,183 50.9%
1976 50 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 1 96,052 57.3%
1978 52 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 1 76,877 61.9%
1980 54 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 1 119,196 69.4%
1982 56 VA R U.S. House District 09 General 2 75,082 49.6%


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



Ideology Data for William Wampler


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
1953 27 House 79 18 R 82 97 27 0
1954 28 House 70 30 R 74 24 96 33 0
1967 41 House 83 13 80 16 D 50 46 96 7 85
1968 42 House 76 12 77 13 D 47 44 91 8 83
1969 43 House 91 4 76 18 R 51 36 90 0 87
1970 44 House 89 11 65 35 R 75 25 97 6 72
1971 45 House 87 8 76 19 R 77 19 93 9 90
1972 46 House 82 6 69 16 R 68 27 88 6 70
1973 47 House 88 10 77 21 R 69 30 98 0 76
1974 48 House 82 12 78 18 R 60 38 96 13 52
1975 49 House 89 2 80 13 R 60 33 92 5* 89
1976 50 House 85 7 75 16 R 69 25 89 5 80
1977 51 House 90 5 73 21 D 37 54 90 5 81
1978 52 House 86 7 74 20 D 28 65 94 10 96
1979 53 House 90 3 72 22 D 32 61 90 0 79
1980 54 House 89 6 70 26 D 40 56 93 29 68
1981 55 House 87 7 66 21 R 64 28 87 5 82
1982 56 House 93 5 74 24 R 58 36 94 10 67
Lifetime conservative rating:   79%


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.