William Donlon “Don” Edwards, former Representative for California's 16th Congressional District

Edwards was the representative for California’s 16^th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1993 to 1994.

He was previously the representative for California’s 10^th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 to 1992; and the representative for California’s 9^th congressional district as a Democrat from 1963 to 1974.

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Edwards is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1994 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Edwards sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 1989 to Nov 29, 1994. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Edwards was the primary sponsor of 24 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 24 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Edwards sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Crime and Law Enforcement (24%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (23%) Government Operations and Politics (23%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Law (7%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%) Social Welfare (4%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Edwards recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1963 to Nov 1994, Edwards missed 864 of 13,867 roll call votes, which is 6.2%. This is worse than the median of 3.4% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Nov 1994. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1963 Jan-Mar	9	0	0.0%	0^th
1963 Apr-Jun	31	0	0.0%	0^th
1963 Jul-Sep	28	1	3.6%	64^th
1963 Oct-Dec	50	2	4.0%	40^th
1964 Jan-Mar	26	0	0.0%	0^th
1964 Apr-Jun	34	0	0.0%	0^th
1964 Jul-Sep	49	0	0.0%	0^th
1964 Oct-Oct	4	0	0.0%	0^th
1965 Jan-Mar	28	0	0.0%	0^th
1965 Apr-Jun	53	10	18.9%	78^th
1965 Jul-Sep	98	22	22.4%	91^st
1965 Oct-Oct	22	1	4.5%	39^th
1966 Jan-Mar	30	7	23.3%	83^rd
1966 Apr-Jun	51	4	7.8%	30^th
1966 Jul-Sep	72	18	25.0%	78^th
1966 Oct-Oct	40	8	20.0%	65^th
1967 Jan-Mar	31	2	6.5%	83^rd
1967 Apr-Jun	57	0	0.0%	0^th
1967 Jul-Sep	59	2	3.4%	62^nd
1967 Oct-Dec	98	4	4.1%	72^nd
1968 Jan-Mar	38	3	7.9%	83^rd
1968 Apr-Jun	79	5	6.3%	86^th
1968 Jul-Sep	91	7	7.7%	83^rd
1968 Oct-Oct	25	5	20.0%	76^th
1969 Jan-Mar	16	1	6.2%	39^th
1969 Apr-Jun	28	4	14.3%	59^th
1969 Jul-Sep	45	19	42.2%	97^th
1969 Oct-Dec	88	35	39.8%	88^th
1970 Jan-Mar	35	9	25.7%	73^rd
1970 Apr-Jun	74	20	27.0%	79^th
1970 Jul-Sep	76	8	10.5%	39^th
1970 Oct-Dec	81	25	30.9%	70^th
1971 Jan-Mar	22	3	13.6%	53^rd
1971 Apr-Jun	90	9	10.0%	39^th
1971 Jul-Sep	74	1	1.4%	11^th
1971 Oct-Dec	134	7	5.2%	18^th
1972 Jan-Mar	64	5	7.8%	34^th
1972 Apr-Jun	114	12	10.5%	45^th
1972 Jul-Sep	101	5	5.0%	21^st
1972 Oct-Oct	50	2	4.0%	26^th
1973 Jan-Mar	36	2	5.6%	39^th
1973 Apr-Jun	191	40	20.9%	87^th
1973 Jul-Sep	131	3	2.3%	38^th
1973 Oct-Dec	182	9	4.9%	38^th
1974 Jan-Mar	79	9	11.4%	60^th
1974 Apr-Jun	170	5	2.9%	13^th
1974 Jul-Sep	148	3	2.0%	22^nd
1974 Oct-Dec	141	14	9.9%	62^nd
1975 Jan-Mar	68	3	4.4%	52^nd
1975 Apr-Jun	199	6	3.0%	33^rd
1975 Jul-Sep	154	7	4.5%	41^st
1975 Oct-Dec	191	2	1.0%	16^th
1976 Jan-Mar	106	2	1.9%	23^rd
1976 Apr-Jun	267	21	7.9%	46^th
1976 Jul-Sep	281	13	4.6%	41^st
1976 Oct-Oct	7	0	0.0%	0^th
1977 Jan-Mar	100	1	1.0%	15^th
1977 Apr-Jun	273	21	7.7%	48^th
1977 Jul-Sep	198	3	1.5%	16^th
1977 Oct-Dec	135	3	2.2%	30^th
1978 Jan-Mar	150	13	8.7%	60^th
1978 Apr-Jun	300	15	5.0%	37^th
1978 Jul-Sep	308	16	5.2%	38^th
1978 Oct-Oct	76	13	17.1%	87^th
1979 Jan-Mar	63	3	4.8%	61^st
1979 Apr-Jun	221	11	5.0%	36^th
1979 Jul-Sep	198	13	6.6%	59^th
1979 Oct-Dec	190	49	25.8%	91^st
1980 Jan-Mar	148	11	7.4%	44^th
1980 Apr-Jun	197	8	4.1%	34^th
1980 Jul-Sep	192	21	10.9%	69^th
1980 Oct-Dec	67	3	4.5%	30^th
1981 Jan-Mar	15	2	13.3%	73^rd
1981 Apr-Jun	90	5	5.6%	51^st
1981 Jul-Sep	106	8	7.5%	65^th
1981 Oct-Dec	142	9	6.3%	52^nd
1982 Feb-Mar	48	5	10.4%	67^th
1982 Apr-Jun	119	6	5.0%	58^th
1982 Jul-Sep	193	7	3.6%	33^rd
1982 Oct-Dec	99	6	6.1%	43^rd
1983 Jan-Mar	43	1	2.3%	18^th
1983 Apr-Jun	182	2	1.1%	11^th
1983 Jul-Sep	130	4	3.1%	46^th
1983 Oct-Nov	143	7	4.9%	49^th
1984 Jan-Mar	53	0	0.0%	0^th
1984 Apr-Jun	223	5	2.2%	22^nd
1984 Jul-Sep	96	0	0.0%	0^th
1984 Oct-Oct	36	1	2.8%	30^th
1985 Jan-Mar	36	2	5.6%	40^th
1985 Apr-Jun	154	0	0.0%	0^th
1985 Jul-Sep	101	0	0.0%	0^th
1985 Oct-Dec	148	1	0.7%	11^th
1986 Jan-Mar	61	2	3.3%	30^th
1986 Apr-Jun	128	0	0.0%	0^th
1986 Jul-Sep	202	4	2.0%	38^th
1986 Oct-Oct	60	0	0.0%	0^th
1987 Jan-Mar	39	3	7.7%	74^th
1987 Apr-Jun	187	13	7.0%	72^nd
1987 Jul-Sep	95	5	5.3%	68^th
1987 Oct-Dec	167	11	6.6%	55^th
1988 Feb-Mar	49	0	0.0%	0^th
1988 Apr-Jun	161	1	0.6%	13^th
1988 Jul-Sep	152	6	3.9%	45^th
1988 Oct-Oct	89	13	14.6%	89^th
1989 Jan-Mar	14	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Apr-Jun	105	2	1.9%	31^st
1989 Jul-Sep	128	5	3.9%	64^th
1989 Oct-Nov	121	10	8.3%	80^th
1990 Jan-Mar	60	2	3.3%	56^th
1990 Apr-Jun	150	9	6.0%	77^th
1990 Jul-Sep	183	4	2.2%	43^rd
1990 Oct-Oct	143	6	4.2%	60^th
1991 Jan-Mar	62	2	3.2%	51^st
1991 Apr-Jun	139	1	0.7%	14^th
1991 Jul-Sep	81	3	3.7%	49^th
1991 Oct-Nov	162	4	2.5%	52^nd
1992 Jan-Mar	66	11	16.7%	95^th
1992 Apr-Jun	185	3	1.6%	30^th
1992 Jul-Sep	196	5	2.6%	50^th
1992 Oct-Oct	41	1	2.4%	44^th
1993 Jan-Mar	127	6	4.7%	71^st
1993 Apr-Jun	190	3	1.6%	32^nd
1993 Jul-Sep	164	9	5.5%	80^th
1993 Oct-Nov	134	3	2.2%	54^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	12	12.6%	87^th
1994 Apr-Jun	219	3	1.4%	34^th
1994 Jul-Sep	142	18	12.7%	88^th
1994 Oct-Nov	51	4	7.8%	80^th

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills

Rep. William Donlon “Don” Edwards

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