RightDataUSA


Peter Welch

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 2, 1947 in Springfield, MA

Education:

  • Cathedral High School (Springfield, MA)
  • College of the Holy Cross, B.A., 1969
  • University of California, J.D., 1973

Career:

  • Robert F. Kennedy Fellow, 1969-1970
  • Lawyer

Elected Office:

  • VT Senate, 1981-1989, 2002-2007


Election Results for Peter Welch


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1988 41 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 2 10,756 33.1%
1990 43 VT D Governor Primary 1 14,656 86.6%
1990 43 VT D Governor General 2 97,321 46.0%
2006 59 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 34,706 100.0%
2006 59 VT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 139,815 53.2%
2008 61 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 19,566 88.1%
2008 61 VT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 248,203 83.2%
2010 63 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 65,920 100.0%
2010 63 VT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 154,006 64.6%
2012 65 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 36,863 99.0%
2012 65 VT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 208,600 71.9%
2014 67 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 19,248 98.8%
2014 67 VT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 123,349 64.4%
2016 69 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 67,286 99.5%
2016 69 VT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 264,414 82.5%
2018 71 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 56,041 84.0%
2018 71 VT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 188,547 69.2%
2020 73 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 101,566 95.5%
2020 73 VT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 238,827 67.3%
2022 75 VT D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 86,603 87.0%
2022 75 VT D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 196,572 68.5%


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



Ideology Data for Peter Welch


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
2007 60 House 97 2 R 4 96 99 95 0
2008 61 House 97 2 R 16 82 98 90 8
2009 62 House 93 2 D 90 9 97 95 0
2010 63 House 93 3 D 83 17 96 95 4
2011 64 House 93 5 D 82 17 98 100 8
2012 65 House 93 5 D 90 8 97 100 4
2013 66 House 96 3 D 89 10 98 95 12
2014 67 House 96 3 D 89 9 99 89 4
2015 68 House 95 2 D 86 9 97 95 13
2016 69 House 95 2 D 100 0 97 100 4
2017 70 House 97 1 R 11 89 97 100 7
2018 71 House 96 2 R 26 74 99 83 12
2019 72 House 98 0 R 2 96 98 95 0
2020 73 House 95 0 R 8 89 95 100 0
2021 74 House 100 0 D 100 0 99 100 0
2022 75 House 98 1 D 93 7 97 0
2023 76 Senate 93 1 D 98 5
2024 77 Senate 92 8 D 99
Lifetime conservative rating:   5%


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.