RightDataUSA


Jim Ramstad

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 6, 1946 in Jamestown, ND
Died: November 5, 2020 in Wayzata, MN

Education:

  • University of Minnesota, B.A., 1968
  • George Washington University, J.D., 1973

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army Reserve, 1968-1975

Career:

  • Assistant to ND Rep. Thomas Kleppe, 1970
  • Adjunct professor at American University, 1974-1978
  • Asst. campaign manager, MN Rep. Bill Frenzel, 1978

Elected Office:

  • MN Senate, 1981-1990


Election Results for Jim Ramstad


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1990 44 MN IR U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 43,252 79.2%
1990 44 MN IR U.S. House District 03 General 1 195,833 66.9%
1992 46 MN IR U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 24,498 100.0%
1992 46 MN IR U.S. House District 03 General 1 200,240 63.6%
1994 48 MN IR U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 71,696 100.0%
1994 48 MN IR U.S. House District 03 General 1 173,223 73.2%
1996 50 MN R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 22,416 100.0%
1996 50 MN R U.S. House District 03 General 1 205,845 70.1%
1998 52 MN R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 19,183 37.3%
1998 52 MN R U.S. House District 03 General 1 203,731 71.9%
2000 54 MN R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 13,995 100.0%
2000 54 MN R U.S. House District 03 General 1 222,571 67.6%
2002 56 MN R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 26,275 100.0%
2002 56 MN R U.S. House District 03 General 1 213,334 72.0%
2004 58 MN R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 19,232 89.9%
2004 58 MN R U.S. House District 03 General 1 231,871 64.6%
2006 60 MN R U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 17,579 100.0%
2006 60 MN R U.S. House District 03 General 1 184,330 64.9%


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



Ideology Data for Jim Ramstad


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
1991 45 House 86 14 81 18 R 65 34 99 25 85
1992 46 House 56 44 78 22 R 53 47 100 30 67
1993 47 House 70 30 82 17 D 45 55 99 35 67
1994 48 House 72 28 82 18 D 55 45 99 32 62
1995 49 House 63 31 81 18 D 36 61 98 30 68
1996 50 House 47 51 74 20 D 44 52 95 37 70
1997 51 House 65 35 75 25 D 52 48 100 40 64
1998 52 House 79 21 68 32 D 43 57 100 20 60
1999 53 House 78 22 D 33 67 99 40 72
2000 54 House 78 22 D 34 66 99 30 68
2001 55 House 78 22 R 65 35 99 20 52
2002 56 House 84 16 R 82 18 99 15 92
2003 57 House 79 20 R 76 24 99 25 60
2004 58 House 91 9 R 70 30 100 25 76
2005 59 House 78 20 R 67 30 98 37 46
2006 60 House 70 30 R 71 29 99 35 68
2007 61 House 74 25 R 50 50 99 45 56
2008 62 House 68 31 R 45 54 99 68 44
Lifetime conservative rating:   65%


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.