California's 23rd congressional district

This article contains weasel words, vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (June 2009)

California's 23rd congressional district
Current Representative		Lois Capps (D)
Area	2,479 mi²
Distribution	98.0% urban, 2.0% rural
Population (2000)	639,088
Median income	$44,784
Ethnicity	48.7% White, 1.9% Black, 4.9% Asian, 41.7% Hispanic, 0.5% Native American, 0.1% other
Cook PVI	D+12

California's 23rd congressional district covers parts of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The current Representative for this district is Democrat Lois Capps.

Voting

The district is moderately to heavily (in some places) Democratic with Capps winning the last election (2006) with 65% of the vote. John Kerry received 58% of the vote in this district in 2004; George W. Bush received 40%.^[1] The district voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger 54-41% in 2006,^[2] Dianne Feinstein 62-32% in 2006,^[3] Barbara Boxer 60-35% in 2004,^[4] recalling Gray Davis 53-47%^[5] and Schwarzenegger 42-35%^[6] in 2003, and Davis 48-41% in 2002.^[7]

Proportionally, it is one of the narrowest districts in the United States and is barely noticeable on most maps. Its largest town is the heavily industrial Oxnard. The lines of this district are controversial and are a result of California's bi-partisan incumbent gerrymandering. The district lines are used both as an outrageous example of gerrymandering, since the district favors a Democrat and is about 200 miles (320 km) long, and paradoxically as an outstanding example of the preservation of the common interests of voters. If the district was distributed among the adjacent inland districts there would be less effective representation of coastal interests, particularly with regards to fisheries, tourism, development, and offshore oil drilling.

However, to preserve Republican numbers representing California in the House of Representatives, the state Republican party has fought to avoid having any part of this district combined with the less-populous parts of either Ventura or Santa Barbara counties, as this would erode the Republican majorities in those counties.

The district has often been criticized for and been cited as an example of gerrymandering. However some of the claims made about the size and shape of the district are untrue. While the length of the district can be measured at about 200 miles, one reaches this number only by following the curves of the coast line. By drawing a straight line from point to point the district is about 70 miles (110 km) long. It connects what many consider to be Northern and Southern California because it is in Central California. Additionally contrary to what some have stated the district is much wider than 5 miles (8.0 km) in many places. Simply looking at the political boundaries alone make the district seem very highly suspect. But once factoring in the population density^[8] and geography^[9] the shape and size of the congressional district does make more sense. This does not mean that the district wasn't part of the bipartisan push for preserving incumbents, only that the district's proportions are not so egregious as many opponents say.

Voting

List of Representatives

Election Results

1942

1944

1946

1948

1950

1952

1954

1956

1958

1960

1962

1963 (Special)

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

References

External links

• GovTrack.us: California's 23rd congressional district
• RAND California Election Returns: District Definitions
• California Voter Foundation map - CD23