Zoe Lofgren

In 1994, Lofgren entered a six-way Democratic primary in what was then the 16th district, when Edwards retired after 32 years in Congress. The district, then as now, is a Democratic stronghold, and it was understood that whoever won the Democratic primary would be only the second person to represent this district since its creation in 1963 (it was numbered as the 9th district from 1963 to 1975, as the 10th from 1975 to 1993, the 16th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 19th since 2013). A decided underdog, she managed to defeat the favorite, former San Jose mayor Tom McEnery, by just over 1,100 votes. She breezed to victory in November, and has since been reelected with no substantive opposition.

During the 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections, Lofgren's campaign paid approximately $350,000 to two businesses her husband operates: Collins and Day and John Marshall Collins P.C. over a six-year period to support campaign efforts.[11]

Lofgren during the
109th Congress

Lofgren is the chair of the 46-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. In 2007, she co-sponsored[12] the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, which the ACLU characterized as "legislating against thought."[13] In April 2011, she became the first member of Congress to call for federal investigation into the Secure Communities deportation program.[14]

Beginning in 2009, Lofgren served as Chair of the House Ethics Committee. In doing so, she presided over a rare sanction of censure, against long-time member Charles B. Rangel.[15]

In the Stop Online Piracy Act House Judiciary Committee hearings, she defended the current state of the internet in opposition of the bill. She has also opposed the data retention requirements in the H.R. 1981 (the Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011).[16]

In February 2013, Lofgren became one of the sponsors of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act to expedite open access to taxpayer-funded research.[17]

In May 2016, Lofgren was publicly reprimanded during a House Judiciary Committee hearing after calling witness Gail Heriot of the United States Commission on Civil Rights an "ignorant bigot" because Ms. Heriot's written testimony before the hearing had suggested that calling oneself a female does not cause one to be a female.[18] Following the oral warning from acting committee chairman Steve King (R, Iowa), Lofgren responded, "I cannot allow that kind of bigotry to go into the record unchallenged".[19]

In January 2020, Lofgren was selected as one of seven impeachment managers who presented the impeachment case against President Donald Trump during his first trial before the United States Senate.[20]

As of October 2021, Lofgren had voted in line with Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.[21]

Lofgren speaking to the California Democratic Party State Convention in June 2019.

• Committee on House Administration (Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Oversight (Ranking Member, 112th Congress)
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship (Chair, 117th Congress)
• Committee on Science, Space and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics
• Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
• Select Committee on the January 6 Attack

• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (Associate member)[22]
• Congressional Progressive Caucus[23]
• Congressional Arts Caucus[24]
• Afterschool Caucuses[25]
• Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus[26]
• Congressional Freethought Caucus[27]
• Medicare for All Caucus[28]

Lofgren is pro-choice[29] and has a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, an organization that advocates for abortion rights and tracks congressional records on the topic.[30] In 2013, she was chosen as the lead House Democrat to argue against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would have banned abortions after the mother was 20 weeks pregnant. Lofgren said, "Passage of the bill is wrong. It's the wrong policy for the freedom of American women."[29]

Lofgren has routinely voted in support of bills that would expand renewable energy investments. She believes that a clean energy infrastructure is required to curb the effects of climate change.[31][32][33] She also co-sponsored the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act in 2018.[34]

Lofgren is a member of the Medicare for All Caucus and co-sponsored the Medicare for All legislation introduced by Representative John Conyers in 2017. She rescinded her sponsorship of a similar bill introduced by Representative Pramila Jayapal in 2019, saying the bill's two-year timeline was not feasible.[28] Lofgren continues to support a public option for health insurance.[35] In 2021, she co-sponsored Jayapal's bill that would lower the eligibility age of Medicare from 65 to 60.[36]