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Jason Altmire

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Jason Altmire
Jason Altmire.jpeg
U.S. House, Pennsylvania, District 4
Retired Representative
In office
January 3, 2007-2013
PartyDemocratic
Elections and appointments
Last electionNovember 2, 2010
First electedNovember 7, 2006
Term limitsN/A
Education
Bachelor'sFlorida State University
Master'sGeorge Washington University
Personal
BirthdayMarch 7, 1968
Place of birthKittanning, Pennsylvania
ProfessionPolitical Assistant, Professional Advocate
ReligionCatholic
Websites
Office website
Campaign website

Contents

Jason Altmire (b. March 7, 1968) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Pennsylvania. Altmire was first elected by voters from Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district in 2006.

Because of redistricting, Altmire's territory was thrown in with Mark Critz in the newly redrawn 12th district. Altmire lost to Critz in the April 24 Democratic primary.[1]

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Altmire was a "centrist Democratic leader".[2]

Biography

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 		The information about this individual is current as of when his or her last campaign ended. See anything that needs updating? Send a correction to our editors

Altmire was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.S. from Florida State University in 1990, and his M.H.S.A. from George Washington University in 1998.[3]

Career

Altmire has also worked as a professional advocate.

Committee assignments

U.S. House

2011-2012

Altmire served on the following committees:[4]

Issues

Political positions

Voting Record

Altmire has missed 0 percent of all roll call votes during his congressional career.[5]

A February 2012 analysis by National Journal found that out of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, Altmire ranks number 188 in liberal rankings. The ranking means that out of the 192 Democrats in the House, Altmire is the 188th most liberal member. [6]

Specific votes

Fiscal Cliff

Voted "Yes" Altmire voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was one of 172 Democrats that voted in favor of the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257/167 vote on January 1, 2013.[7]

Health Care

Altmire was one of 34 Democrats in the House to vote against the health care reform bill.[8]

Elections

2012

See also: Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district elections, 2012

Altmire was running in the 2012 election for the U.S. House, representing Pennsylvania's newly redrawn 12th District. Because of redistricting, Altmire's territory was thrown in with Mark Critz in the newly redrawn 12th district. While Altmire lead in the polls, Altmire lost to Critz in the April 24 Democratic primary.[9]

Politico rated the race between Critz and Altmire one of the 5 ugliest member vs. member battles.[10] [11]

Ballot challenge

Because of redistricting, Altmire was forced to challenge Critz in the April 24, 2012 Democratic primary. They were both running for re-election in the new 12th congressional district. Altmire was nearly forced off the ballot by a legal challenge from the Critz campaign. Critz argued that hundreds of Altmire's signatures were invalid because the petition gatherer lived outside of the district, thus violating Pennsylvania law. [12]

On March 5, however, a Pennsylvania judge ruled against Critz, allowing Altmire to stay on the ballot. After the ruling, Altmire said Critz had resorted to the tactics of a "prom king."[13]

Endorsements

  • Allegheny County Democratic Committee
  • Westmoreland County Democratic Committee
  • Beaver County Democratic Committee
  • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette[14]

2010

On November 2, 2010, Altmire won re-election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Keith Rothfus (R) in the general election.[15]

U.S. House of Representatives, Pennsylvania Congressional District 4 Election, 2010
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark.jpgJason Altmire Incumbent 50.8% 120,827
     Republican Keith Rothfus 49.2% 116,958
Total Votes 237,785

2008

On November 4, 2008, Altmire won re-election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Melissa A. Hart in the general election.[16]

U.S. House of Representatives, Pennsylvania Congressional District 4 Election, 2008
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark.jpgJason Altmire Incumbent 55.9% 186,536
     Republican Melissa A. Hart 44.1% 147,411
Total Votes 333,947

2006

On November 7, 2010, Altmire won election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Melissa A. Hart in the general election.[17]

U.S. House of Representatives, Pennsylvania Congressional District 4 Election, 2006
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark.jpgJason Altmire Incumbent 51.9% 131,847
     Republican Melissa A. Hart 48.1% 122,049
Total Votes 253,896

Ads

On March 13, 2012, the Altmire campaign released its first two campaigns, touting the congressman's record and his roots and family background.[18] The 30-second ads are titled "A Lot" and "Ethic." On March 28, 2012 Altmire released a 30-second ad highlight the differences between his and Critz's voting record.[19] In early April, Altmire released another ad, attacking Critz's voting record. Titled "Represent," the ad's narrator says Critz's record shows he does not represent western Pennsylvania.


"A Lot"


"Ethic"


"Stood"


"Represent"

Ad controversy

Some House Democrats expressed frustration with an Altmire ad that attacked Critz for failing to "stand up to the Tea Party" on the conservative budget proposal. Some lawmakers viewed the ad as a distortion because in reality, Critz voted "present" with party leaders, instead of "no." House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and Reps. Robert Brady (D-PA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) all publicly defended Critz against the ad. “Manipulating those issues is a disservice to our party and certainly inaccurate about Mark,” said Schakowsky.

In defending the ad, Altmire told The Hill newspaper, “It’s 100 percent accurate. My ad says he did not vote against the Tea Party budget, and he didn’t. ...No. It’s not technically correct. It’s 100 percent correct. My ad says he didn’t vote against the Tea Party budget. He didn’t. Thank you, good talking to you." Before, Critz had said that he would endorse Altmire if he won the primary. Now, that may change. "It’s this Medicare ad,” said Critz. “I’m very frustrated by that, because it’s very misleading. And for him to pick that issue and turn it into a negative ad upsets me because it really undermines what we’re trying to do as a party to protect Medicare. It angers me.”[20]

Polls

2012 Election

Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District Democratic Primary: Jason Altmire vs. Mark Critz
Response [1]
(April 13-15, 2012)		[2]
(March 22-25, 2012)		[3]
(March 12-14, 2012)		[4]
(February 2-5, 2012)		[5]
(January 10-15, 2012)		Average
Jason Altmire (D) 43%45%55%47%50% 48%
Mark Critz (D) 39%38%31%37%43% 37.6%
Number polled 400400400400503 420.6
Margin of error +/-4.9+/-4.9%+/-4.9%+/-4.9%+/-4.4% 4.8%
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org

Campaign donors

In the first quarter of 2012, Altmire out-raised Democratic primary rival Mark Critz. Altmire pulled in $330,000 to Critz's $285,000.[21]

Altmire has received more than $430,000 from law firms throughout his Congressional career. He has also gotten more than $300,000 in contributions from health professionals and the hospital industry.[22]

2010

Altmire won re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. During that re-election cycle, Jason Altmire's campaign committee raised a total of $2,503,953 and spent $2,507,513.[23]

His top 5 contributors between 2009-2010 were:

Analysis

Congressional staff salaries

See also: Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Altmire paid his congressional staff a total of $926,145 in 2011. Overall, Pennsylvania ranked 34th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[24]

Staff bonuses

According to an analysis by CNN, Altmire is one of nearly 25% of House members who gave their staff bonuses in 2012. Altmire's staff was given an apparent $69,000.00 in bonus money.[25]

Net worth

See also: Net Worth of United States Senators and Representatives

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Altmire's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $149,009 to $410,000. That averages to $279,540.50 which was lower than the average net worth of Democratic Representatives in 2010 of $4,465,875.[26]

National Journal vote rankings

See also: National Journal vote ratings

2012

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. In 2012, Altmire ranked 172nd among Democratic Representatives in the liberal rankings.[27][28]

2011

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. In 2011, Altmire ranked 188th among Democratic members of the U.S. House in the liberal rankings.[29]

Percentage voting with party

The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Jason Altmire voted with the Democratic Party 55.6% of the time, which ranked 191 among the 192 House Democratic members in December 2011.[30]

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Jason + Altmire + Pennsylvania + House

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Jason Altmire News Feed


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Personal

Jason Altmire is married to Kelly. They have 2 children.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State "2012 General Primary Unofficial Returns," April 24, 2012
  2. ↑ Gov Track "Altmire" Accessed May 18, 2012
  3. ↑ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress "ALTMIRE, Jason, (1968 - )"
  4. ↑ Congressman Jason Altmire, Representing Pennsylvania's Fourth Congressional District "Committee Assignments"
  5. ↑ govtrack.us "Rep. Jason Altmire" Accessed April 7, 2012
  6. ↑ National Journal "Searchable Vote Ratings Tables: House" Accessed February 24, 2012
  7. ↑ U.S. House "Roll Call Vote on the Fiscal Cliff" Accessed January 4, 2013.
  8. ↑ govtrack.us "House Vote #165 in 2010" Accessed April 7, 2012
  9. ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State "2012 General Primary Unofficial Returns," April 24, 2012
  10. ↑ Politico "Congress 2012: The 5 ugliest member vs. member battles" Accessed April 18, 2012
  11. ↑ Pennsylvania Secretary of State 2012 Official Primary Results
  12. ↑ Roll Call "Pennsylvania: Court Hearing Friday on Mark Critz’s Ballot Challenge" Accessed March 22, 2012
  13. ↑ Politico "Jason Altmire wins, calls Mark Critz tactics like ‘prom king’" Accessed March 22, 2012
  14. ↑ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Altmire in the 12th: It's a tough call between Democratic incumbents" Accessed April 3, 2012
  15. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010"
  16. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 2008"
  17. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 2006"
  18. ↑ The Hill "Reps. Altmire, Critz release dueling TV ads in Pennsylvania" Accessed March 24, 2012
  19. ↑ PoliticsPA "Altmire Ad: Big Differences Between Mark Critz and Jason Altmire" Accessed March 28, 2012
  20. ↑ The Hill "Altmire ads unfair, say Dem colleagues" Accessed Apirl 20, 2012
  21. ↑ PoliticsPA "Altmire Wins Q1 $$ Battle" Accessed April 9, 2012
  22. ↑ opensecrets.org "Rep Jason Altmire, Top Industries" Accessed April 7, 2012
  23. ↑ Open Secrets "Jason Altmire 2010 Election Cycle," Accessed November 16, 2011
  24. ↑ LegiStorm, "Jason Altmire," Accessed September 24, 2012
  25. ↑ CNN Politics, "Congressional bonuses in a time of cuts," March 8, 2013
  26. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Jason Altmire (D-Pa), 2010," Accessed September 24, 2012
  27. ↑ National Journal, "TABLE: House Liberal Scores by Issue Area," February 21, 2013
  28. ↑ National Journal, "TABLE: House Conservative Scores by Issue Area," February 21, 2013
  29. ↑ National Journal, "Searchable Vote Ratings Tables: House," February 23, 2012
  30. ↑ Open Congress "Voting With Party"
Political offices
Preceded by
Melissa Hart 		U.S. House of Representatives - Pennsylvania, District 4
2007–2013 		Succeeded by
Scott Perry (R)
v • d • e
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