RightDataUSA


Butch Otter

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 3, 1942 in Caldwell, ID

Education:

  • College of Idaho, B.A., 1967

Military Service:

  • ID Army National Guard, 1968-1973

Career:

  • Livestock company president, 1963-1993
  • Rancher

Elected Office:

  • ID House, 1972-1976
  • ID Lt. Governor, 1987-2001



Election Results for Butch Otter


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1978 36 ID R Governor Primary 3 30,523 26.0%
1986 44 ID R Lt. Governor Primary 1 60,764 57.8%
1986 44 ID R Lt. Governor General 1 190,778 50.4%
1990 48 ID R Lt. Governor Primary 1 73,292 69.6%
1990 48 ID R Lt. Governor General 1 246,132 100.0%
1994 52 ID R Lt. Governor Primary 1 46,805 39.7%
1994 52 ID R Lt. Governor General 1 213,009 52.6%
1998 56 ID R Lt. Governor Primary 1 107,048 100.0%
1998 56 ID R Lt. Governor General 1 225,704 60.2%
2000 58 ID R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 41,516 47.6%
2000 58 ID R U.S. House District 01 General 1 173,743 64.8%
2002 60 ID R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 60,352 100.0%
2002 60 ID R U.S. House District 01 General 1 120,743 58.6%
2004 62 ID R U.S. House District 01 Primary 1 49,896 78.8%
2004 62 ID R U.S. House District 01 General 1 207,662 69.5%
2006 64 ID R Governor Primary 1 96,045 70.0%
2006 64 ID R Governor General 1 237,437 52.7%
2010 68 ID R Governor Primary 1 89,117 54.6%
2010 68 ID R Governor General 1 267,483 59.1%
2014 72 ID R Governor Primary 1 79,779 51.4%
2014 72 ID R Governor General 1 235,405 53.5%


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




Ideology Data for Butch Otter


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
2001 59 House 97 3 R 81 19 99 0 96
2002 60 House 93 6 R 86 14 99 0 96
2003 61 House 91 8 R 87 13 99 20 84
2004 62 House 93 6 R 70 27 98 5 100
2005 63 House 90 9 R 70 30 98 16 96
2006 64 House 86 11 R 66 24 96 21 92
Lifetime conservative rating:   94%


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.