RightDataUSA


Jim Leach

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 15, 1942 in Davenport. IA

Education:

  • Princeton University, B.A., 1964
  • Johns Hopkins University, M.A., 1966

Career:

  • Assistant to Rep. Donald Rumsfeld, 1965-1966
  • U.S. State Department, 1968-1969, 1971-1972
  • U.S. Office of Equal Opportunity, 1969-1970
  • Businessman
  • Federal Home Loan Bank, 1975-1976


Election Results for Jim Leach


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1974 31 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 15,746 100.0%
1974 31 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 2 63,540 45.6%
1976 33 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 17,735 100.0%
1976 33 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 109,694 51.9%
1978 35 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 18,835 100.0%
1978 35 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 79,940 63.5%
1980 37 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 30,383 99.9%
1980 37 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 133,349 64.1%
1982 39 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 18,841 100.0%
1982 39 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 89,585 59.2%
1984 41 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 13,793 99.9%
1984 41 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 131,182 66.8%
1986 43 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 15,523 99.9%
1986 43 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 86,834 66.4%
1988 45 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 19,968 99.9%
1988 45 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 112,746 60.7%
1990 47 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 16,485 100.0%
1990 47 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 90,042 99.8%
1992 49 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 15,629 99.7%
1992 49 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 178,042 68.1%
1994 51 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 39,986 99.3%
1994 51 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 110,448 60.2%
1996 53 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 22,041 99.4%
1996 53 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 129,242 52.8%
1998 55 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 23,667 99.4%
1998 55 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 106,419 56.5%
2000 57 IA R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 12,010 99.2%
2000 57 IA R U.S. House District 01 General 1 164,972 61.8%
2002 59 IA R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 24,441 99.1%
2002 59 IA R U.S. House District 02 General 1 108,130 52.2%
2004 61 IA R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 11,419 100.0%
2004 61 IA R U.S. House District 02 General 1 176,684 58.9%
2006 63 IA R U.S. House District 02 Primary 1 8,430 100.0%
2006 63 IA R U.S. House District 02 General 2 101,707 48.6%


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



Ideology Data for Jim Leach


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
1977 34 House 64 33 67 31 D 51 49 96 50 66
1978 35 House 67 30 68 30 D 56 43 97 35 79
1979 36 House 59 31 61 32 D 56 41 95 41 60
1980 37 House 49 48 63 36 D 51 44 96 61 37
1981 38 House 48 51 54 45 R 58 42 98 55 67
1982 39 House 36 62 43 54 R 45 52 95 65 23
1983 40 House 28 71 40 51 R 39 55 91 50 19
1984 41 House 36 58 51 42 R 42 53 91 55 32
1985 42 House 22 78 53 40 R 34 64 95 60 37
1986 43 House 37 63 58 39 R 47 52 98 55 32
1987 44 House 42 58 58 32 R 38 59 92 60 36
1988 45 House 61 39 62 35 R 35 65 98 75 32
1989 46 House 51 44 59 34 R 45 52 94 65 46
1990 47 House 52 48 62 37 R 38 59 98 61 21
1991 48 House 59 41 61 35 R 59 41 97 60 35
1992 49 House 54 40 65 33 R 52 47 98 60 38
1993 50 House 43 50 63 28 D 55 39 93 55 55
1994 51 House 69 31 68 31 D 63 35 99 44 33
1995 52 House 75 23 78 21 D 40 59 99 30 44
1996 53 House 59 41 68 31 D 58 42 99 40 37
1997 54 House 69 24 71 28 D 48 52 97 45 60
1998 55 House 90 10 62 36 D 51 46 98 47 32
1999 56 House 70 30 D 35 65 98 55 48
2000 57 House 70 27 D 38 56 97 32 58
2001 58 House 71 26 R 58 40 96 47 25
2002 59 House 70 28 R 71 29 98 30 56
2003 60 House 63 35 R 56 42 98 50 40
2004 61 House 58 30 R 48 45 91 61 43
2005 62 House 60 36 R 48 50 95 79 33
2006 63 House 60 36 R 42 58 96 50 48
Lifetime conservative rating:   43%


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.