Jim Hansen (Idaho politician)
American politician

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.
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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.
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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.