RightDataUSA


Pat Williams

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 30, 1937 in Helena, MT

Education:

  • Attended University of Montana, 1956-1957
  • University of Denver, B.A., 1961

Military Service:

  • CO and MT National Guard, 1961-1969

Career:

  • Teacher, 1963-1969
  • Regional director, Hubert Humphrey presidential campaign, 1968
  • Assistant to Rep. John Melcher, 1969-1971
  • Member of Governor's Employment and Training Council, 1972-1978

Elected Office:

  • MT House, 1967-1969


Election Results for Pat Williams


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1974 36 MT D U.S. House District 01 Primary 2 21,645 31.7%
1978 40 MT D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 29,966 40.7%
1978 40 MT D U.S. House District 01 General 1 86,016 57.3%
1980 42 MT D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 56,532 75.2%
1980 42 MT D U.S. House District 01 General 1 112,866 61.4%
1982 44 MT D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 55,833 100.0%
1982 44 MT D U.S. House District 01 General 1 100,087 59.7%
1984 46 MT D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 47,733 100.0%
1984 46 MT D U.S. House District 01 General 1 126,998 65.6%
1986 48 MT D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 39,224 100.0%
1986 48 MT D U.S. House District 01 General 1 98,501 61.7%
1988 50 MT D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 59,985 100.0%
1988 50 MT D U.S. House District 01 General 1 115,278 60.8%
1990 52 MT D U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 50,071 100.0%
1990 52 MT D U.S. House District 01 General 1 100,409 61.1%
1992 54 MT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 108,422 100.0%
1992 54 MT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 203,711 50.5%
1994 56 MT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 103,476 100.0%
1994 56 MT D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 171,372 48.7%


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



Ideology Data for Pat Williams


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
1979 41 House 36 63 67 26 D 56 40 93 79 26
1980 42 House 33 61 67 21 D 59 29 86 76 26
1981 43 House 21 73 86 10 R 34 62 88 95 25
1982 44 House 16 79 81 11 R 35 61 84 85 9
1983 45 House 18 74 77 9 R 18 72 84 90 10
1984 46 House 17 75 72 14 R 30 65 88 90 14
1985 47 House 7 87 76 4 R 18 80 85 95 11
1986 48 House 18 74 76 8 R 12 82 88 89 5
1987 49 House 21 74 81 5 R 18 79 85 96 0
1988 50 House 13 79 70 5 R 14 77 85 94 4
1989 51 House 22 71 72 12 R 31 60 88 84 7
1990 52 House 20 72 77 12 R 24 72 90 89 9
1991 53 House 32 51 75 14 R 31 61 90 76 20
1992 54 House 33 56 77 14 R 17 75 92 85 9
1993 55 House 25 68 77 12 D 63 28 88 84 13
1994 56 House 53 44 78 11 D 72 26 91 78 19
1995 57 House 21 68 78 10 D 79 11 88 89 5
1996 58 House 31 65 79 12 D 78 19 89 70 5
Lifetime conservative rating:   12%


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.