Rep. Jane Harman (D) Elected 2000, 2d term
Born:	June 28, 1945, New York, NY
Home:	Venice
Education:	Smith Col., B.A. 1966, Harvard U., J.D. 1969
Religion:	Jewish
Marital Status:	married (Sidney)
Elected  Office:	U.S. House of Reps., 1992-98.
Professional Career:	Legis. Dir., U.S. Sen. John Tunney, 1972-73; Chief Cnsl. & Staff Dir., Senate Judiciary Subcmtee., 1973-77; Dep. Cabinet Secy., White House, 1977; Defense Dept. Special Cnsl., 1979; Harman Intl. Industries, Corp. Secy., 1985-92, Dir., 1990-92; Practicing atty., 1970-72, 1982-92; Regents Prof., U.C.L.A., 1999.
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For many southern Californians, there is no better place to be than the beach. It is not a perfect environment: In the morning there may be mists, the winter air is damp and clammy, even in summer the weather can be chilly, the water is never very warm and is sometimes polluted. But for many this is echt-California, and in this democratic polity, there is a beach to suit the taste of just about everyone. The funkiest of all is Venice, with its beach houses plus some expensive new mansions jammed together, its long-stagnant canals dug by a developer in 1904 and paved over in the late 1920s to make way for cars, and the boardwalk where skateboarding got its start and roller blade sports are de rigueur. To the south is Marina Del Rey, with sleek modern apartment complexes and expensive yacht moorings, and El Segundo, named for Chevron's second oil refinery; now it has big office buildings. Next are Manhattan Beach, one of the favorites four decades ago of the Beach Boys who grew up a couple of miles inland in Hawthorne, and tiny Hermosa Beach, with tightly packed frame houses originally the homes of elderly retirees, now filled with the young and would-be young. Farther south are the flower-planted rises of Redondo Beach and the larger city of Torrance, whose vast inland expanse is the home of the North American headquarters of both Honda and Toyota (and to large Korean and Japanese communities). Just to the east, above the harbor, are Wilmington and San Pedro, once working-class, but moving up as well; it is the home of Mayor James Hahn and overlooks L.A.'s eerily modern container port.

The 36th Congressional District includes most of this beach territory, from Venice south to San Pedro (both of which are within the Los Angeles city limits, though the area in between is not). California today is mostly multiethnic, but the beach communities are still, as if in the 1950s, filled mostly with white Anglos. Redistricting increased Hispanic percentage from 19% to 30% by removing the affluent Palos Verdes Peninsula and adding Wilmington. The changes reduced the Bush 2000 percentage from 45% to 39%; this is one of four California districts that were made more Democratic to accommodate a Democrat who narrowly replaced a Republican in 2000. This area is still leery of taxes, but culturally it is libertarian--against restrictions or even aspersions on its various lifestyles. This has been one of America's leading defense and aerospace areas, where Howard Hughes built planes half a century ago and where so much of the 1980s defense buildup took place.

The congresswoman from the 36th District is Democrat Jane Harman, who regained the seat in 2000 that she held for six years before running for governor in 1998. Born in New York City, she grew up in Los Angeles as the daughter of a Westside physician and was in the gallery as a volunteer usher when John F. Kennedy was nominated at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. She graduated from Smith College and Harvard Law School, when women were still rare there. In the 1970s, she worked for California Senator John Tunney and the Senate Judiciary Committee. She later served in the Carter White House and as a special counsel in the Defense Department. After her stints in government, Harman practiced law and worked as a lobbyist in Washington. When she saw the new 1992 district lines, she returned to California and ran for Congress. Harman is one of the richest members of Congress; her husband Sidney Harman is founder of audio-equipment maker Harman International Industries, and she has spent large amounts of her own money on her campaigns.

In 1992, the "year of the woman," she campaigned as "pro-choice and pro-change," defeating a pro-life Republican woman 48%-42%; she was narrowly reelected in 1994 and 1996. She decided late to run for governor, getting into the race only after Senator Dianne Feinstein announced in January 1998 that she would not run. Harman spent more than $20 million, including $15 million of her own, but finished a disappointing third among Democrats. In 1999 she was appointed as a Regents' professor at UCLA. Congressional and state Democrats lobbied her hard to seek her former House seat, which Republican Steven Kuykendall narrowly won in 1998. Kuykendall supported abortion rights and took liberal stands on environmental issues; many Democrats believed that only Harman could defeat him. She attacked Kuykendall for failing to support the Democrats' proposal for a prescription drug benefit in Medicare and for voting to repeal the estate tax, and tried to tie him to House Republican leaders. She stressed her earlier House record, economically somewhat conservative and culturally liberal. Her assiduous work on defense issues in the 1990s was still a political asset, and Democratic House leadership promised to restore her seniority. Kuykendall may have been hurt by the deadlock between the Republican leadership and the Clinton White House that kept Congress in session through October, and he was certainly hurt by the lack of appeal of George W. Bush in Coastal California. This was a race targeted by both parties, with each candidate spending nearly $2 million. After more than a week of absentee ballot counting following Election Day, Kuykendall conceded; Harman won 48%-47%.

On her return to the House, Harman joined Energy and Commerce, where she urged limits on growth at LAX, including a passenger cap. Other than Gary Condit, she had the most conservative voting record of any Democrat from California. Harman disappointed many Democrats by voting for the final version of trade promotion authority after initially opposing it; she was one of five House Democrats who switched, and cited improved worker training provisions. After September 11, her focus turned to national security. On the Intelligence Committee, she became ranking Democrat of the new Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee. Working closely with chairman Saxby Chambliss, she criticized the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency for moving too slowly to share information and respond to terrorism threats. She was an early supporter of a Department of Homeland Security and she voted for the use of force in Iraq. Nancy Pelosi, who was ranking Democrat on Intelligence, chose Harman to replace her after the 2002 election, despite a strong campaign by Sanford Bishop. At Pelosi's request, Harman took a leave of absence from Energy and Commerce; she now also serves on the Select Homeland Security Committee.

In 2002, she was reelected easily, by a 61%-35% margin. Despite her disappointing bid for governor, she has not ruled out another run for statewide office.

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DC Office
2400 RHOB 20515, 202-225-8220; Fax: 202-226-7290; Web site: www.house.gov/harman

State Offices
El Segundo, 310-643-3636; Wilmington, 310-549-8282.

Committees

• Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (RMM of 9 D).
• Select Committee on Homeland Security (7th of 23 D): Emergency Preparedness & Response; Intelligence & Counterterrorism.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	60	73	67	75	84	62	37	65	36	29	17
2001	90	--	90	100	--	--	24	52	20	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	57%	--	43%		53%	--	47%
Social	72%	--	29%		67%	--	29%
Foreign	73%	--	28%		55%	--	44%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights N 3. Campaign Finance Reform Y 4. Ban ANWR Development Y 5. Faith-Based Charities N 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts N		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion N  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority N 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court N 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Jane Harman (D)	88,198	61%	$1,206,046
	Stuart Johnson (R)	50,328	35%	$158,318
	Mark McSpadden (Lib)	5,225	4%
2002 primary	Jane Harman (D)	unopposed
2000 general	Jane Harman (D)	115,651	48%	$1,998,739
	Steven T. Kuykendall (R)	111,199	47%	$1,988,938
	Other	12,281	5%
Prior winning percentages: 1996 (52%); 1994 (48%); 1992 (48%)

2000 presidential
	Gore (D)	130,752	57%
	Bush (R)	88,619	39%
	Other	9,423	4%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Thirty-Sixth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 9
• District Size: 122 square miles
• Population in 2000: 639,087; 100.0% urban; 0.0% rural
• Median Household Income: $51,633; 12.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 16.1% blue collar; 71.1% white collar; 12.8% gray collar; 8.8% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 48.4% White, 4.1% Black, 13.4% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.4% Hawaiian, 2.9% Two+ races, 0.3% Other, 30.3% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 8.0% German, 6.6% Irish, 6.2% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.