Editing Jim Ryun (section)

==House of Representatives==
[[File:George W. Bush and Jim Ryun.png|thumb|right|Ryun with [[President of the United States|President]] [[George W. Bush]] in 2004]]
According to Ryun, he was interested in politics, but did not have plans to run for Congress until [[Todd Tiahrt]] told him during the [[1996 Summer Olympics torch relay]] that the Topeka-based [[Kansas's 2nd congressional district|2nd District]] would have a vacancy and suggested that he run.{{r|fraioli20101129}}

===Elections===
Ryun was first elected in 1996 to fill a seat vacated by Republican [[Sam Brownback]]. He won the three-person Republican primary with 62% of the vote, defeating former [[Topeka Mayor]] [[Douglas S. Wright|Doug Wright]] and Cheryl Brown Henderson,<ref>{{cite news | last = Toppo | first = Greg | title = Cheryl Brown Henderson | newspaper = [[USA Today]] | date = May 16, 2004 | url = https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-05-14-cheryl-brown-henderson_x.htm | access-date = August 30, 2006 }}</ref> the daughter of [[Oliver Brown (civil rights)|the plaintiff]] in the historic ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]] of Topeka'' desegregation case.<ref name="C&E"/> In the general campaign, Ryun was in a tight race with [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] John Frieden, a prominent Topeka trial attorney, who outspent Ryun $750,000 to $400,000.<ref name="C&E"/> Ryun won that contest with 52% of the vote. He did not face another contest nearly that close for almost a decade; he was re-elected three times with at least 60% of the vote.

In 2004, Democrat [[Nancy Boyda]], a former [[Moderate Republicans (modern United States)|moderate Republican]], ran a campaign with spending near that of Ryun's, $1,105,838 (compared to Ryun's $1,136,464).<ref>[http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.asp?id=KS02&cycle=2004 Total Raised and Spent 2004] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061123225358/http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.asp?cycle=2004&id=KS02 |date=November 23, 2006 }}</ref> Ryun defeated her by a margin of 55 to 42%, mainly due to the presence of [[George W. Bush]] atop the ticket.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

In the [[United States House elections, 2006|2006 election]], Boyda was again the Democratic nominee, with Roger Tucker of the [[Reform Party of the United States of America]] also on the ballot.<ref>{{cite web |author=Gunzburger, Ron |url=http://www.politics1.com/ks.htm |title=Kansas |publisher=Politics1}}</ref> Initially expected to win, Ryun found his campaign faltering as internal polling for both his campaign and Boyda's revealed Boyda was ahead. In response, Ryun's campaign recruited both President Bush and [[Dick Cheney|Vice President Cheney]] to visit Topeka to campaign and raise campaign funds for Ryun. Ryun was defeated in an [[Upset (competition)|upset]] by Boyda, 51 to 47%.<ref>{{cite news |author=Ranney, Dave |date=November 8, 2006 |url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/nov/08/democrats_dominate/?print |title=Democrats dominate |newspaper=[[Lawrence Journal-World]]}}</ref>

In March 2007, Ryun confirmed that he would run for his old seat.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.wibw.com/news/headlines/6544167.html |title=Ryun Plans to Run for Congress |publisher=WIBW |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928014217/http://www.wibw.com/news/headlines/6544167.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref> In the Republican primary, he faced [[Kansas State Treasurer]] [[Lynn Jenkins]], a slightly more moderate Republican who served two terms as state treasurer, a partial term in the [[Kansas Senate]], and two years in the Kansas House. Ryun lost to Jenkins, who went on to win the seat in the general election, 51 to 46%.<ref name="336053-KS-02-2008">{{cite web | url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=336053 | title=KS District 02 – 2008 | publisher=Our Campaigns | access-date=October 19, 2015}}</ref>

===Political actions===
Ryun served on the Armed Services, Budget, and Financial Services committees. He tallied a strongly conservative voting record.

Ryun generally supported [[George W. Bush]]'s legislative agenda, voting to support it 89% of the time, average for a House member who was from the same party as the sitting president.<ref>{{cite news|last=Silva |first=Mark |url=http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2006/08/bush_slipping_in_the_senate_ho.html |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |title=Bush slipping in the Senate, holding the House |date=August 24, 2006 |access-date=January 13, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430112028/http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2006/08/bush_slipping_in_the_senate_ho.html |archive-date=April 30, 2015 }}</ref> In 2003, he voted against the $373 billion end-of-session spending bill because he considered it to be too costly and had come to Congress to support fiscal restraint.

Ryun broke with the President over two major initiatives, [[No Child Left Behind]] and [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] reform legislation that included a prescription-drug benefit. In voting against No Child Left Behind, Ryun said he believed states should have more control over their own education system. In opposing the Medicare bill, Ryun said the bill did not provide enough reform to keep future costs from soaring.

In 2006, the ''[[National Journal]]'' rated Ryun as the nation's most [[Conservatism|conservative]] member of Congress.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://nationaljournal.com/voteratings/house/lib.htm |title=National Journal's 2006 Vote Ratings House Liberal Scores |magazine=National Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708233146/http://www.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/house/lib.htm |archive-date=July 8, 2008}}{{failed verification|date=September 2017|reason=archive is 2007 ratings; need archive of 2006 ratings}}</ref> He was a member of the [[Republican Study Committee]], a caucus of 103 fiscally and socially conservative House Republicans.

===Environmental record===
In 2005, Ryun scored 0 percent on the [[Republicans for Environmental Protection]] ("REP") scorecard. Twelve issues were considered by the REP to be critical environmental issues.<ref name="rep.org">[http://www.rep.org/2005_scorecard.pdf Republicans for Environmental Protection 2005 Scorecard]} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527191748/http://www.rep.org/2005_scorecard.pdf |date=May 27, 2008 }}</ref> Jim Ryun voted with what the REP would consider pro-environment on none of the issues voted upon. These issues consisted of the drilling of oil and natural gas, Congressman [[Richard Pombo]]'s bill designed to weaken the [[Endangered Species Act of 1973]], an amendment to the [[Energy Policy Act of 2005]], by Congresswoman [[Lois Capps]] to remove section 1502, a provision that would provide liability protection for manufacturers of the gasoline additive [[MTBE]], and the movement to increase fuel economy standards.<ref name="rep.org"/>

Ryun also scored a 0 on the [[League of Conservation Voters]]'s <!-- ("LCV") --> scorecard. Many of REP's critical issues were present on the scorecard.<ref>{{cite web |title=Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee |url=http://www.lcv.org/president-and-congress/senate/senate-energy-natural-resources-committee.html |publisher=League of Conservation Voters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010054733/http://www.lcv.org/president-and-congress/senate/senate-energy-natural-resources-committee.html |archive-date=October 10, 2007}}{{failed verification|date=September 2017|reason=Probably need a different archived version}}</ref>

In 2006, Ryun improved his REP scorecard when he voted pro-environment on two of seven critical issues. This earned him a 17% rating.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rep.org/2006_scorecard.pdf |publisher=Republicans for Environmental Protection |title=2006 Scorecard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615183627/http://www.rep.org/2006_scorecard.pdf |archive-date=June 15, 2007}}</ref> He voted to help reduce the impact the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] had on the environment. The issues in which he voted against the REP were ones involving oil drilling in the [[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]], renewable resource programs, and the movement to end debate and accept the [[Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act]].{{cn|date=April 2025}}