Rep. Linda Sanchez (D) Elected 2002, 1st term
Born:	Jan. 28, 1969, Orange
Home:	Lakewood
Education:	U. of CA, B.A. 1991, U.C.L.A., J.D. 1995
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Mark Valentine)
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1995-98; Exec. Secy. Treas. of Orange Cnty. AFL-CIO, 2000-02.
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In the years just after World War II much of southeast Los Angeles County was farmland--citrus groves, dairy farms. Then in the next two decades subdivisions were built and new cities incorporated so that what had been a few separate towns separated by farmland became one continuous swatch of suburbia. The separate towns were different in character. Whittier, founded by Quakers, was the home town of Richard Nixon, who was a young lawyer thinking about running for Congress in early 1946 was inaugurated as vice president of the United States seven years later. South Gate and Lynwood, with new auto and other factories, filled up with newcomers from the South. Lakewood, just north of Long Beach, was built up so rapidly in the 1950s that it was featured in Life magazine. Other towns were built up later; there were still dairy farms in Cerritos in the 1970s.

The 39th Congressional District is made up of a heterogeneous and oddly shaped collection of these suburbs. It is shaped like a U. On the east end of the U are two-thirds of Whittier, a town founded by Midwestern Quakers, where Richard Nixon grew up and went to Whittier College, all of South and West Whittier and La Mirada. The bottom end of the U includes Cerritos, Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens and Lakewood. The west end of the U includes Southgate, Lynwood, Paramount and the eastern fringe of South Central Los Angeles. The district's population is 61% Hispanic and 10% Asian. As this area grew in the postwar years it was pretty closely divided between the parties. But in the 1990s it trended Democratic. This is essentially a new district created by the 2001 redistricting, replacing the old 38th District represented by Republican Steve Horn. Redistricting was controlled by Democrats, but they made a deal to create 20 Republican districts, the same number as they won in 2000, in return for Republican votes for the plan in the legislature. But it was apparent that it would have been hard to draw a safe seat for Horn as well as the other 19 incumbent Republicans, and Horn was not included in the deal; instead a new Republican district was created in the Central Valley and this new Democratic Hispanic-majority district was created.

The congresswoman from the new 39th District is Linda Sanchez, a Democrat elected in 2002, and the junior and younger member of the first pair of sisters ever elected to Congress. They are the oldest and youngest of seven children of Ignacio Sanchez, a machinist, and Maria Macias. Loretta Sanchez, who is nine years older, was elected to the House in 1996 when she unseated Republican Robert Dornan in an Orange County district. Linda Sanchez graduated from Berkeley and UCLA law school. She became a civil rights lawyer and was executive secretary-treasurer of the Orange County Federation of Labor. "She's definitely the more liberal one," Loretta explained.

Even before the district lines were unveiled in August 2001, it was apparent that there would be a new Democratic district in this part of Los Angeles County; when the lines were unveiled, Horn announced that he would not run for reelection. Linda Sanchez was one of six Democrats who filed to run. Her most important asset was her sister's support. Linda Sanchez tapped Loretta's extensive fundraising network, walked precincts with her and appeared in a television commercial with her. In the Spanish language ad, their mother urged voters to send both of her daughters to Capitol Hill. All this gave Linda Sanchez an advantage over her two chief opponents, who started off better known--two-term Assemblywoman Sally Havice and South Gate Councilman Hector De La Torre, who had worked several years in Washington as a legislative aide and Labor Department official. There were few differences between them on major issues, but the campaign turned negative in the closing weeks. Sanchez ran an ad on cable criticizing Havice for allegedly failing to pay property taxes and homeowners dues and attacked De La Torre for receiving a campaign contribution from a trash hauler in Los Angeles who owed franchise fees to the city. Sanchez's labor ties helped her build a strong voter turnout operation; the L.A. County AFL-CIO endorsed both Sanchez and Havice.

With help from her sister, Sanchez won endorsements from then-Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi and aid from Ruben Hinojosa. Her opponents replied that Sanchez had received no endorsements from other Latino members of Congress; Hilda Solis, whom Loretta Sanchez backed in her first House race in 1998, endorsed De La Torre. They charged that Linda Sanchez was a political opportunist who changed her name and residence to run in the newly-created district; like her sister, Sanchez had used her non-Latino married name until she started to run for the House. Sanchez won with 33% of the vote, to 29% for De La Torre and 19% for Havice. Afterwards the Long Beach Press-Telegram attacked Sanchez's tactics: "It may have been the only way for Sanchez to win, as an unemployed labor activist with little political experience, but the tactics were deceptive, dishonest and mean."

This district is not as Democratic as the Hispanic-majority 31st, 32d, 34th and 38th Districts, and Sanchez's negative primary campaign may have hurt her. Republican Tim Escobar, a financial adviser and former Army helicopter pilot, said Sanchez was an inexperienced liberal extremist; he quoted the bitter remarks of her primary opponents. But Sanchez won 55%-41%. For a freshman, Sanchez received an unusual greeting upon her arrival on Capitol Hill: The election of the two sisters generated abundant and largely flattering national press coverage.

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DC Office
1007 LHOB 20515, 202-225-6676; Fax: 202-226-1012; Web site: www.house.gov/lindasanchez

State Offices
Lakewood, 562-429-8499.

Committees

• Government Reform (15th of 19 D): Criminal Justice, Drug Policy & Human Resources; National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations.
• Judiciary (16th of 16 D): Immigration, Border Security & Claims.
• Small Business (17th of 17 D).

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Linda Sanchez (D)	52,256	55%	$1,074,253
	Tim Escobar (R)	38,925	41%	$218,239
	Richard Newhouse (Lib)	4,165	4%
2002 primary	Linda Sanchez (D)	10,804	33%
	Hector De La Torre (D)	9,450	29%
	Sally Havice (D)	6,223	19%
	Helen Rahder (D)	2,698	8%
	Ken Graham (D)	1,879	6%
	Cecy Groom (D)	1,230	4%

2000 presidential
	Gore (D)	98,478	62%
	Bush (R)	56,067	36%
	Other	3,390	2%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Thirty-Ninth 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 +13
• District Size: 65 square miles
• Population in 2000: 639,088; 100.0% urban; 0.0% rural
• Median Household Income: $45,307; 15.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 31.2% blue collar; 55.0% white collar; 13.9% gray collar; 7.1% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 21.0% White, 6.1% Black, 9.5% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.3% Hawaiian, 1.5% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 61.2% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 4.3% German, 3.3% Irish, 3.0% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.