Rick Berg
Rick Berg (b. September 16, 1959) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Berg represented the At-Large Congressional District of North Dakota. Berg was first elected in 2010. He unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2012.
Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Berg was a "centrist Republican follower."[1]
Berg lost to Heidi Heitkamp (D) on November 6, 2012.[2]
Career
- 1981: Graduated from North Dakota State University, Fargo, N. Dak.
- 1985-2011: Member of the North Dakota state house of representatives
- 1993: Speaker, North Dakota state house of representatives
- 2003-2009: Majority leader, North Dakota state house of representatives
- 2011-Present: U.S. Representative from North Dakota
Committee assignments
U.S. House
2011-2012
- Ways and Means
- Subcommittee on Human Resources
- Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures
- Subcommittee on Social Security
Issues
Specific votes
Fiscal Cliff
Berg voted against 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 1 of 151 Republicans that voted against the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257 - 167 vote on January 1, 2013.[3]
Elections
2012
Berg lost to Democrat Heidi Heitkamp in the U.S. Senate election in 2012. He defeated Duane Sand in the Republican primary on June 12 but was defeated in the general election on November 6, 2012.[4][5][6]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
 Rick Berg |
66.5% | 67,860 |
| Duane Sand | 33.5% | 34,213 |
| Total Votes | 102,073 | |
Campaign funding
As of mid-April 2012, Berg had $1.6 million in his campaign coffers, while his primary opponent, Duane Sand, had just $81,000 and over $200,000 in campaign debt.[7]
2010
On November 2, 2010, Berg won election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Earl Pomeroy in the general election.[8]
| U.S. House of Representatives, North Dakota Congressional District Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Rick Berg |
54.9% | 129,802 | |
| Democratic | Earl Pomeroy | 45.1% | 106,542 | |
| Total Votes | 236,344 | |||
Polls
2012 Elections
A DFM Research poll, conducted July 24-26, 2012 for the state's Democratic Party, showed Berg trailing Democratic candidate Heidi Heitkamp by six points.[9]
A Rasmussen poll, conducted July 10-11, 2012, showed Berg leading Democratic candidate Heidi Heitkamp by nine points.[10]
| North Dakota's Senate elections, 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Rick Berg (R) | Heidi Heitkamp (D) | Undecided | Margin of error | Sample size | ||||||||||||||
| [1] (July 10-11, 2012) | 49% | 40% | 8% | +/-5 | 400 | ||||||||||||||
| 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. | |||||||||||||||||||
| US Senate in North Dakota, General election candidates | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Rick Berg | Heidi Heitkamp | Other | Undecided | Margin of error | Sample size | |||||||||||||
| NBC North Dakota News/ Mason-Dixon (October 26-28,2012) | 47% | 45% | 0% | 0% | +/-4 | 625 | |||||||||||||
| Pharos Research Group (October 26-28, 2012) | 47.7% | 49.9% | 0% | 2.4% | +/-3.5 | 752 | |||||||||||||
| Rassmussen Reports (October 23, 2012) | 50% | 45% | 0% | 5% | +/-4 | 600 | |||||||||||||
| Forum Communications (October 12-15, 2012) | 50% | 40% | 5% | 5% | +/-4.3 | 500 | |||||||||||||
| Valley News Live/ Mason-Dixon Poll (October 3-5, 2012) | 47% | 47% | 0% | 6% | +/-4 | 625 | |||||||||||||
| AVERAGES | 48.34% | 45.38% | 1% | 3.68% | +/-3.96 | 620.4 | |||||||||||||
| 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 finance summary
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Analysis
Congressional staff salaries
The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Berg paid his congressional staff a total of $744,983 in 2011. Overall, North Dakota ranked 49th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[11]
Staff bonuses
According to an analysis by CNN, Berg was one of nearly 25 percent of House members who gave their staff bonuses in 2012. Berg's staff was given an apparent $14,575.92 in bonus money.[12]
Net worth
2011
Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Berg's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between $23,173,481 to $69,703,348. That averages to $46,438,414, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican House members in 2011 of $7,859,232. His average calculated net worth[13] increased by 38.36% from 2010.[14]
2010
Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Berg's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $12,146,147 to $54,979,033. This averages out to $33,562,590 which was higher than the average net worth of Republicans in 2010 of $7,561,133.[15]
National Journal vote ratings
- 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. Berg ranked 149th in the conservative rankings among members of the U.S. House.[16]
2011
Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted in the previous year. Berg was tied with one other member of the U.S. House of Representatives ranking 150th in the conservative rankings among members of the U.S. House.[17]
Voting with party
Rick Berg voted with the Republican Party 93.4 percent of the time, which ranked 101st among the 242 House Republican members as of November 2011.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Berg and his wife, Tracy Martin, have one child.
External links
- Biographies:
- Political profiles:
- Financial (federal level):
- Financial (state level):
- Interest group ratings:
- Issue positions:
- Public statements:
- Voting record:
- Media appearances:
- Media coverage:
Footnotes
- ↑ GovTrack, "Berg," accessed May 24, 2012
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, North Dakota"
- ↑ U.S. House, "Roll Call Vote on the Fiscal Cliff," accessed January 4, 2013
- ↑ North Dakota Secretary of State-2012 Primary Results
- ↑ North Dakota Secretary of State "2012 Primary Results"
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, North Dakota"
- ↑ The Republic, "Disclosure reports show ND GOP Senate candidate Sand with $81K in campaign cash, $205K debt," April 16, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
- ↑ The Hill, "Dem poll: Heidi Heitkamp up by 6 in North Dakota," accessed August 7, 2012
- ↑ Rasmussen Reports, "Election 2012: North Dakota Senate," accessed July 16, 2012
- ↑ LegiStorm, "Richard A. Berg," accessed September 25, 2012
- ↑ CNN Politics, "Congressional bonuses in a time of cuts," accessed March 8, 2013
- ↑ This figure represents the total percentage growth from either 2004 (if the member entered office in 2004 or earlier) or the member's first year in office (as noted in the chart below).
- ↑ OpenSecrets, "Rick Berg (R-ND), 2011," accessed February 22, 2013
- ↑ OpenSecrets, "Richard A. Berg (R-ND), 2010," accessed September 25, 2012
- ↑ National Journal, "2012 Congressional Vote Ratings," March 7, 2013
- ↑ National Journal, "Searchable Vote Ratings Tables: House," accessed February 23, 2012
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Earl Pomeroy |
U.S. House of Representatives - North Dakota District at-large 2011–2013 |
Succeeded by Kevin Cramer (R) |
