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Former member of Congress · last served 109th Congress

Official portrait of Rep. James A. Leach

James A. Leach

REPUBLICAN U.S. Representative · IowaHouse 1977–2007 (IA-1, IA-2)

Jim Leach was a Republican U.S. representative from Iowa, first elected to Congress in 1977, who sponsored 13 bills that became law (100th–109th Congress).

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173Bills & resolutions sponsored100th–109th Congress (excludes amendments)
29Passed a chamberof 173 bills & resolutions sponsored
13Became law12 substantive + 1 ceremonial · 100th–109th Congress
—Broke with partyNo roll calls in PORKER’s records (they start in 2011)
—Missed votesNo roll calls in PORKER’s records (they start in 2011)
—Pork: own shareFY2024 earmarks: not in office

How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.

Recent votes

No recorded roll-call votes in PORKER’s records. Roll-call records start in 2011.

5 most recent bills

Top bills sponsored

Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.

Elections Rep. Leach has won

Rep. Leach has won 15 U.S. House elections (1976–2004). Of the contested races, margins ran from 4.1 to 36.9 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)1976, IA-1: won by 4.1 points1976IA-11978, IA-1: won by 27.7 points19781980, IA-1: won by 29.2 points19801982, IA-1: won by 18.4 points19821984, IA-1: won by 33.5 points19841986, IA-1: won by 32.8 points19861988, IA-1: won by 22.3 points19881990: unopposed19901992, IA-1: won by 36.9 points19921994, IA-1: won by 22.3 points19941996, IA-1: won by 7.2 points19961998, IA-1: won by 14.3 points19982000, IA-1: won by 25.7 points20002002, IA-2: won by 6.5 points2002IA-22004, IA-2: won by 19.8 points2004
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won15 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 4.1 points1976, IA-1
Won an open seat or took one from the other party1 of 15 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, Iowa’s 2nd districtWinners, most recent three: David Loebsack (D) 2006–2018 → Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) 2020 → Ashley Hinson (R) 2022–2024. Elections shown, not terms; special elections not included.

Full election history for this seat →

Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.

How has Iowa’s 2nd district done while Rep. Leach served?

2005 to 2006 in IA-2: typical household income was about the same after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was about the same, and the share of workers looking for a job was about the same.

Typical household income · after inflationU.S. $75.8KIowa $69.6KIA-2 $69.0K
IA-2: $68.5K in 2005 → $69.0K in 2006
IA-2 about the sameIowa about the sameU.S. up 1%
Share of people below the poverty lineU.S. 13.3%IA-2 12.5%Iowa 11.0%
IA-2: 13.6% in 2005 → 12.5% in 2006
IA-2 about the sameIowa about the sameU.S. about the same
Share of workers looking for a jobU.S. 6.4%IA-2 5.4%Iowa 4.9%
IA-2: 5.9% in 2005 → 5.4% in 2006
IA-2 about the sameIowa about the sameU.S. down 0.5 points

Each mini chart has its own scale, fitted to its lines (it does not start at zero), so compare the numbers, not the heights. Teal = district, oxblood = state, grey = U.S.

While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in Iowa’s 2nd district during Leach’s time representing it (2003 to 2007). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.

One set of district lines. IA-2 was redrawn in 2012 and again in 2022 (the survey year the new lines first appear), but every survey year in Leach’s term so far (2005 and 2006) uses the same lines, so they can be compared. The Census Bureau has no 2020 yearly estimate.

See the full 20-year record →Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates (tables B19013, B17001, B23001) and BLS CPI-U-RS for inflation, retrieved October 18, 2026. “About the same” means the change is inside the 90% margins of error. Who held the seat: Congress.gov member service records, year level.

Official records on bills this member sponsored

109th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 17 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored17Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them →
With a sponsor’s constitutional-authority statement0None listed
With a CBO cost estimate listed1See the 1 →
With a committee report listed1See the 1 →
Evidence
How counted
Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 109th Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
Fields
cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
PORKER copy refreshed
October 26, 2026 (nightly)

Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.

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Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.