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Jim Matheson

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Jim Matheson
Jim Matheson.jpg
U.S. House, Utah, District 4
Incumbent
In office
January 3, 2001-Present
Term ends
January 3, 2015
Years in position 12
PartyDemocratic
PredecessorN/A
Compensation
Base salary$174,000/year
Elections and appointments
Last electionNovember 6, 2012
First electedNovember 7, 2000
Next electionNovember 4, 2014
Campaign $$12,940,428
Term limitsN/A
Education
Bachelor'sHarvard University
Master'sUniversity of California
Personal
BirthdayMarch 21, 1960
Place of birthSalt Lake City, Utah
ProfessionBusinessman
Net worth$989,013
ReligionThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon)
Websites
Office website
Campaign website

Contents

James David "Jim" Matheson (b. March 21, 1960) is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Utah. Matheson represents Utah's 4th congressional district and was first elected to the House in 2000. Due to redistricting, he ran for re-election in 2012 for District 4 after previously serving the 2nd district. He won the newly created District 4 seat on November 6, 2012.[1]

According to a March 2012 article in Roll Call, Matheson was one of the top 10 most vulnerable incumbents.[2]

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Matheson is a "centrist Democrat".[3]

Matheson serves as one of the Chief Deputy Whips of the Democratic caucus for the 113th Congress.[4]

Biography

Matheson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He earned his B.A. from Harvard University in 1982 and his M.B.A. from the University of California in 1987.[5]

Career

Matheson worked in the energy industry and owned his own company before entering public service.[6]

Committee assignments

U.S. House

2013-2014

Matheson serves on the following committees:[7]

2011-12

Matheson was a member of the following House committees:[6]

Issues

Campaign themes

According to Matheson's website, his campaign themes included:

  • Small Businesses: "...worked to provide tax, lending and investment incentives to small businesses so that they can grow and hire."
  • Budget: "...believes it is fiscally reckless and morally wrong to pile debt on future generations...the only way to turn things around is to make serious structural changes to the federal budget process."
  • Healthcare: " We pay too much and get too little out of our system and the costs are driving our country deeper into debt."[9]

Specific votes

Fiscal Cliff

Voted "No" Matheson 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 16 Democrats that voted against the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257/167 vote on January 1, 2013.[10]

Elections

2014

See also: Utah's 4th congressional district elections, 2014

According to a Washington Post article in December 2012, Matheson is one of the 10 most vulnerable incumbents in 2014.[11]

The National Republican Congressional Committee listed Matheson's seat as one of seven early targets in the 2014 congressional elections.[12] The seven targets align perfectly with the seven most Republican districts currently held by Democrats, according to FairVote's partisanship index. Matheson's district ranks as the 2nd most Republican (39% D).[13]

Matheson is a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Frontline Program. The program is designed to help protect vulnerable Democratic incumbents heading into the 2014 election.[14]

On May 19, 2013, Republican Mia Love announced she will run against Matheson in a re-match of the 2012 election for Utah's 4th Congressional District seat.[15]

2012

Due to district boundary changes following the 2011 redistricting, Matheson ran for re-election in Utah's 4th congressional district in 2012. He ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and defeated Mia Love (R) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[16][17]

According to the website Daily Kos, this race was one of nine top-ballot 2012 races that contained Libertarian candidates who received more total votes than was the difference between the Democratic winner and the GOP runner-up. In this case, Jim Vein took in over 3,000 more votes than the number that separated Matheson and Love.[18]

U.S. House, Utah, District 4 General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark.jpgJim Matheson Incumbent 48.8% 119,803
     Republican Mia B. Love 48.5% 119,035
     Libertarian Jim L. Vein 2.6% 6,439
Total Votes 245,277
Source: Utah Lieutenant Governor "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

Polls

2012

Jim Matheson V. Mia Love
Response Mason-Dixon Polling & Research
(October 29-31, 2012)		Average
Jim Matheson 40% 40%
Mia Love 52% 52%
Number polled 625 625
Margin of error +/-4 4%
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

Comprehensive donor information for Matheson is available dating back to 2000. Based on available campaign finance records, Matheson raised a total of $12,940,428 during that time period. This information was last updated on April 2, 2013.[25]

Jim Matheson's Campaign Contribution History
Year Office Result Contributions
2012 US House (Utah, District 4) Won $2,360,398
2010 US House (Utah, District 4) Won $1,803,801
2008 US House (Utah, District 4) Won $1,789,766
2006 US House (Utah, District 4) Won $1,860,573
2004 US House (Utah, District 4) Won $1,966,015
2002 US House (Utah, District 4) Won $1,464,613
2000 US House (Utah, District 4) Won $1,695,262
Grand Total Raised $12,940,428

2012

Breakdown of the source of Matheson's campaign funds before the 2012 election.

Matheson won re-election to the U.S. House in 2012. During that re-election cycle, Matheson's campaign committee raised a total of $2,360,399 and spent $2,383,305.[26]


On October 15, 2012, quarterly reports were submitted by campaigns to the Federal Election Commission. The political blog Daily Kos did an analysis of the fundraising figures and found Republican challenger Mia Love outraised Democratic incumbent Jim Matheson in the third quarter. Love raised $999,000 and has $457,000 in cash-on-hand while Matheson raised $469,000 and has $307,000 in cash-on-hand.[27]

2010

Breakdown of the source of Matheson's campaign funds before the 2010 election.

Matheson won re-election to the U.S. House in 2010. During that re-election cycle, Matheson's campaign committee raised a total of $1,803,801 and spent $2,465,527.[28]

Analysis

Lifetime voting record

See also: Lifetime voting records of United States Senators and Representatives

According to the website GovTrack, Matheson missed 82 of 8,664 roll call votes from January 2001 to April 2013. This amounts to .9%, which is better than the median of 2.1% among current congressional representatives as of April 2013.[29]

Congressional staff salaries

See also: Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Matheson paid his congressional staff a total of $1,017,997 in 2011. Overall, Utah ranks 17th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[30]

Net worth

See also: Net Worth of United States Senators and Representatives

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Matheson's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between $558,026 and $1,420,000. That averages to $989,013, which is lower than the average net worth of Democratic Representatives in 2011 of $5,107,874. His average net worth increased by 3.4% from 2010.[31]

2010

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Matheson's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $543,025 to $1,370,000. That averages to $956,512.50, which is lower than the average net worth of Democratic Representatives in 2010 of $4,465,875.[32]

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. Matheson is 1 of 2 members who ranked 185th in the liberal rankings in 2012.[33]

2011

See also: National Journal vote ratings

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. Matheson was 1 of 2 members of congress who ranked 189th in the liberal rankings.[34]

Political positions

Percentage voting with party

November 2011

The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Matheson voted with the Democratic Party 61.4% of the time, which ranked 188 among the 192 House Democratic members in November 2011.[35]

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Jim + Matheson + Utah + House

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

Jim Matheson News Feed


Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found


Personal

Matheson and his wife, Amy, have two children.[6]

External links


References

  1. ↑ Politico "2012 Election Map"
  2. ↑ Roll Call "Top 10 Vulnerable: Targets on Their Backs," March 16, 2012
  3. ↑ Gov Track "Matheson" Accessed May 18, 2012
  4. ↑ Office of the Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer "Hoyer Announces Whip Team for the 113th Congress," January 4, 2013
  5. ↑ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress "MATHESON, James David (Jim), (1960 - )"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Official House website "Biography," Accessed November 2, 2011
  7. ↑ CQ.com, House Committee Rosters for the 113th Congress
  8. ↑ House Energy & Commerce Committee "Subcommittees"
  9. ↑ Matheson for Congress, "Issues," Accessed September 19, 2012
  10. ↑ U.S. House "Roll Call Vote on the Fiscal Cliff" Accessed January 4, 2013.
  11. ↑ Washington Post "House Democrats Face Long Odds in 2014," December 7, 2012
  12. ↑ The Hill, "NRCC, promising to 'stay on offense,' targets seven Dems," January 16, 2013
  13. ↑ FairVote "NRCC Targets Foreshadow Power of Partisanship in 2014 Elections," January 18, 2013
  14. ↑ Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, "DCCC Chairman Steve Israel Announces 2013-2014 Frontline Members," March 5, 2013
  15. ↑ Roll Call "Mia Love Announces Utah Rematch" Accessed May 21, 2013
  16. ↑ Utah Lieutenant Governor - Candidate filings
  17. ↑ Deseret News "Rep. Jim Matheson jumps to 4th Congressional District for re-election," Accessed December 16, 2011
  18. ↑ Daily Kos, "Libertarians provided the margin for Democrats and at least nine elections," November 15, 2012
  19. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010"
  20. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 2008"
  21. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 2006"
  22. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2004"
  23. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 2002"
  24. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 2000"
  25. ↑ Open Secrets "Career Fundraising for Jim Matheson," Accessed April 2, 2013
  26. ↑ Open Secrets "Matheson Campaign Contributions," Accessed February 24, 2013
  27. ↑ Daily Kos "Third quarter House fundraising: who's got the cash?" October 18, 2012
  28. ↑ Open Secrets "Jim Matheson 2010 Election Cycle," Accessed November 2, 2011
  29. ↑ GovTrack, "Matheson," Accessed April 11, 2013
  30. ↑ LegiStorm, "Jim Matheson," Accessed September 13, 2012
  31. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Matheson (D-Utah), 2011"
  32. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Jim Matheson (D-Utah), 2010," Accessed September 13, 2012
  33. ↑ National Journal, "2012 Congressional Vote Ratings," February 28, 2013
  34. ↑ National Journal, "Searchable Vote Ratings Tables: House," February 23, 2012
  35. ↑ Open Congress "Voting With Party"
Political offices
Preceded by
N/A 		U.S. House of Representatives - Utah, District 4
2013-Present 		Succeeded by
'
Preceded by
Merrill Cook 		U.S. House of Representatives - Utah, District 2
2001-2013 		Succeeded by
Chris Stewart (R)
v • d • e
Utah's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Mike Lee (R) • Orrin Hatch (R)
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Jason Chaffetz (R) • Jim Matheson (D) • Rob Bishop (R) • Chris Stewart (R)
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