RightDataUSA


Sam Yorty

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 1, 1909 in Lincoln, NE
Died: June 5, 1998 in Los Angeles, CA

Education:

  • Studied law at Southwestern University and LaSalle University
  • Attended University of Southern California, 1946-1950

Military Service:

  • U.S. Air Corps, 1942-1945

Career:

  • Lawyer

Elected Office:

  • CA Assembly, 1936-1940, 1949-1950
  • Mayor of Los Angeles, 1961-1974
  • Candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, 1973, 1981


Election Results for Sam Yorty


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1940 30 CA R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 4 33,142 4.4%
1940 30 CA D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 4 74,332 7.4%
1950 40 CA R U.S. House District 14 Primary 2 8,290 32.6%
1950 40 CA D U.S. House District 14 Primary 1 24,662 59.1%
1950 40 CA D U.S. House District 14 General 1 47,653 49.4%
1952 42 CA R U.S. House District 26 Primary 1 23,204 53.0%
1952 42 CA D U.S. House District 26 Primary 1 44,129 55.1%
1952 42 CA D,R U.S. House District 26 General 1 157,973 87.9%
1954 44 CA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Special Primary 2 100,746 8.0%
1954 44 CA D U.S. Senate Class 3 Special Primary 1 829,777 52.4%
1954 44 CA D U.S. Senate Class 3 Special 2 1,788,071 45.5%
1956 46 CA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 2 62,913 4.3%
1956 46 CA D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 3 383,813 20.4%
1966 56 CA R Governor Primary 6 3,993 0.2%
1966 56 CA D Governor Primary 2 981,088 37.6%
1970 60 CA D Governor Primary 2 659,494 26.3%
1980 70 CA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 2 668,583 28.6%


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



Ideology Data for Sam Yorty


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
1951 41 House 91 6 D 91 92
1952 42 House 93 5 D 96 92
1953 43 House 68 26 R 73 92 73 0
1954 44 House 73 10 R 38 38 63 86 0


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.