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Former member of Congress · last served 111th Congress

Official portrait of Rep. David R. Obey

David R. Obey

DEMOCRAT U.S. Representative · WisconsinHouse 1969–2011 (WI-7)

David Obey was a Democratic U.S. representative from Wisconsin, first elected to Congress in 1969, who sponsored 24 bills that became law (100th–111th Congress).

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168Bills & resolutions sponsored100th–111th Congress (excludes amendments)
36Passed a chamberof 168 bills & resolutions sponsored
24Became law23 substantive + 1 ceremonial · 100th–111th 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. Obey has won

Rep. Obey has won 17 U.S. House elections (1976–2008). Of the contested races, margins ran from 8.7 to 76.2 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)1976, WI-7: won by 47.2 points1976WI-71978, WI-7: won by 25.3 points19781980, WI-7: won by 29.4 points19801982, WI-7: won by 35.9 points19821984, WI-7: won by 22.5 points19841986, WI-7: won by 25.2 points19861988, WI-7: won by 24.4 points19881990, WI-7: won by 24.3 points19901992, WI-7: won by 28.9 points19921994, WI-7: won by 8.7 points19941996, WI-7: won by 14.1 points19961998, WI-7: won by 21.3 points19982000, WI-7: won by 26.6 points20002002, WI-7: won by 28.4 points20022004, WI-7: won by 76.2 points20042006, WI-7: won by 27.2 points20062008, WI-7: won by 21.6 points2008
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won17 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 8.7 points1994, WI-7
Won an open seat or took one from the other party0 of 17 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, Wisconsin’s 7th districtWinners, most recent three: David Obey (D) 1976–2008 → Sean P. Duffy (R) 2010–2018 → Thomas P. Tiffany (R) 2020–2024. 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 Wisconsin’s 7th district done while Rep. Obey served?

2005 to 2010 in WI-7: typical household income was down 9% after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was up 3.6 points, and the share of workers looking for a job was up 3.3 points.

Typical household income · after inflationU.S. $72.4KWisconsin $70.9KWI-7 $63.0K
WI-7: $69.5K in 2005 → $63.0K in 2010
WI-7 down 9%Wisconsin down 7%U.S. down 3%
Share of people below the poverty lineU.S. 15.3%Wisconsin 13.2%WI-7 13.1%
WI-7: 9.5% in 2005 → 13.1% in 2010
WI-7 up 3.6 pointsWisconsin up 3.0 pointsU.S. up 2.0 points
Share of workers looking for a jobU.S. 10.8%WI-7 9.0%Wisconsin 8.9%
WI-7: 5.7% in 2005 → 9.0% in 2010
WI-7 up 3.3 pointsWisconsin up 2.8 pointsU.S. up 3.9 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 Wisconsin’s 7th district during Obey’s time representing it (1969 to 2011). 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. WI-7 was redrawn in 2012 (the survey year the new lines first appear), but every survey year in Obey’s term so far (2005 to 2010) 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

111th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 15 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored15Source: 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 listed2See the 2 →
With a committee report listed5See the 5 →
With a Congress.gov note6See the 6 →
Evidence
How counted
Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 111th 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.