Zoe Lofgren (born
Sue Lofgren on December
21, 1947, in San Mateo,
California
), American
politician, has been a Democratic member of the
United States
House of Representatives since 1995, representing the 16th
District of California
( map), based in San Jose
.
Biography
A lifelong
Bay
Area
resident, Lofgren attended Gunn High
School
in Palo Alto
, earned her B.A. at Stanford University
and a J.D. at Santa Clara
University
. She left the San Jose area for a few years
after graduation from Stanford, to serve as a staff assistant to
Congressman
Don Edwards, in whose office
she worked on, among other projects, the attempted impeachment of
Richard Nixon. She was also instrumental in the creation of a Bay
Area wilderness area that now bears the name of Edwards.
Returning to San Jose, Lofgren worked in Edwards' district office,
while at the same time earning her law degree.
After two years as
partner at an immigration law firm in San Jose, she was elected
first to a community college board, then to the Santa Clara
County
Board of
Supervisors, where she served for 13 years. Lofgren also
spent three years teaching classes on immigration law at her former
law school at Santa Clara University.
In 1994, Edwards decided to retire after 32 years in Congress.
Lofgren entered the Democratic primary—the real contest in this
heavily Democratic district—as a decided underdog, but managed to
defeat the favorite, former San Jose mayor
Tom McEnery. Lofgren's victory virtually assured
her of becoming only the second person to represent the district
since its creation in 1963 (it was numbered as the 9th District
from 1963 to 1975, as the 10th from 1975 to 1993 and has been the
16th since 1993). She has been reelected six times with no
substantive opposition.
Lofgren is currently the chair of the 34-member California
Democratic Congressional Delegation. She serves on the Judiciary
Committee and is the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on
Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and
International Law.
During the 110th Congress, Lofgren worked for the development of
fusion energy. She initiated a bill that would accelerate its uses
as an alternative energy solution. Another piece of legislation
that she recently authored has the goal of providing lower Internet
access rates to schools, libraries, and other public
institutions.
Committee Assignments
Caucuses
Other Leadership Positions
- Chair of the California Democratic Congressional
Delegation
Electoral History
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search