The Dems Who Voted No On Health Care — And The Key Numbers From Their Home Districts

Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) and Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS)
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So who were the 34 House Democrats that voted against the health care bill — and what are the politics for them back home? A close look at the list shows a heavy tendency towards Democrats who come from districts carried by John McCain in 2008 — though not completely so.

Of the 34 names, 26 of them came from districts carried by John McCain in 2008, ranging from a slim edge of 50%-49% (Harry Teague, New Mexico) to 67%-32% (Gene Taylor, Mississippi). The other eight came from districts carried by Barack Obama, ranging from 50%-48% (Michael Arcuri, New York, and also Glenn Nye, Virginia) all the way up to 71%-29% — in this case Artur Davis of Alabama, who is currently running for governor in his deep-red state.

So here is our handy data reference — who the Democrats in question, which presidential candidate carried each district in 2008 and by how much, and other key information such as freshman status, or whether they are retiring or running for another office. We have organized them according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, which is compiled by taking a district’s votes in the last two presidential election, and comparing that average to how many more points they vote Democratic or Republican compared to the nationl average:

Member

District

2008 Winner

Margin

Cook PVI

Status
Davis, Artur

AL-07

Obama

71%-29%

D+18

Running For Governor
Lipinski

IL-03

Obama

64%-35%

D+11

Lynch

MA-09

Obama

60%-38%

D+11

Barrow

GA-12

Obama

54%-45%

D+1

Adler

NJ-03

Obama

52%-47%

R+1

Freshman
Kissell

NC-08

Obama

52%-47%

R+2

Freshman
Arcuri

NY-24

Obama

50%-48%

R+2

Nye

VA-02

Obama

50%-48%

R+5

Freshman
McMahon

NY-13

McCain

51%-49%

R+4

Freshman
Peterson

MN-07

McCain

50%-47%

R+5

McIntyre

NC-07

McCain

52%-47%

R+5

Shuler

NC-11

McCain

52%-47%

R+6

Teague

NM-02

McCain

50%-49%

R+6

Freshman
Altmire

PA-04

McCain

55%-44%

R+6

Holden

PA-17

McCain

51%-48%

R+6

Tanner

TN-08

McCain

56%-43%

R+6

Retiring
Ross

AR-04

McCain

58%-39%

R+7

Space

OH-18

McCain

53%-45%

R+7

Berry

AR-01

McCain

59%-38%

R+8

Retiring
Chandler

KY-06

McCain

55%-43%

R+9

Herseth Sandlin

SD-AL

McCain

53%-45%

R+9

Marshall

GA-08

McCain

56%-43%

R+10

Boucher

VA-09

McCain

59%-40%

R+11

Melancon

LA-03

McCain

61%-37%

R+12

Running For Senate
Kratovil

MD-01

McCain

58%-40%

R+13

Freshman
Davis, Lincoln

TN-04

McCain

64%-34%

R+13

Skelton

MO-04

McCain

61%-38%

R+14

Childers

MS-01

McCain

62%-37%

R+14

Boren

OK-02

McCain

66%-34%

R+14

Matheson

UT-02

McCain

58%-40%

R+15

Bright

AL-02

McCain

63%-37%

R+16

Freshman
Minnick

ID-01

McCain

62%-36%

R+18

Freshman
Taylor

MS-04

McCain

67%-32%

R+20

Edwards, Chet

TX-17

McCain

67%-32%

R+20

(All district election data taken from Congressional Quarterly. Special thanks to TPM Reader MFM, for providing us with an initial outline of the Democratic votes.)

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