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Jim Hansen (Idaho politician)

American politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ6194506
Source-derived summary

James Duncan Hansen (born November 5, 1959) is an American attorney and politician serving as a commissioner of the Ada County Highway District. He was the 2006 Democratic nominee for Congress in Idaho's 2nd district, but was defeated by four-term incumbent Mike Simpson.

Hansen was previously a member of the Idaho House of Representatives from 1988 to 1994.

Early life and education

Hansen was born in Idaho Falls and moved with his family to Arlington, Virginia in 1969. His father, Orval Hansen, was elected to Congress in 1968 as a Republican from Idaho's 2nd district and served three terms.

Hansen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary in 1982 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Idaho College of Law in 1985.

Career

While in school, Hansen worked as a ranger and naturalist in Yellowstone National Park.

Hansen began his legal career as an intern for state Attorney General Jim Jones in 1984. He was a law clerk for Chief Justice Charles R. Donaldson of the Idaho Supreme Court from 1985 to 1986. He practiced law with Givens Pursley from 1985 to 1991, focusing primarily on water and natural resource issues.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Jim Hansen (Idaho politician)” as american politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1959, 2006, 1988, 1994—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1959-11-05. The account is most persuasive where Hansen, Idaho and politician can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6194506. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959, 2006, 1988 and 1994.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Jim Hansen (Idaho politician)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Jim Hansen (Idaho politician) primary sources, Jim Hansen (Idaho politician) archive and Hansen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jim Hansen (Idaho politician)”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Jim Hansen (Idaho politician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.