California's 38th congressional district

California's 38th congressional district is a U.S. Congressional district centered around suburban Los Angeles. This seat is held by Democrat Grace Flores Napolitano and has a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of D +20.

Demographics

The district covers several cities in the Southeast and San Gabriel Valley areas including Norwalk, Pomona, Santa Fe Springs, La Puente, the City of Industry, Montebello, and Pico Rivera, plus the unincorporated communities of Avocado Heights, Hacienda Heights, West Puente Valley, and parts of Whittier, East Los Angeles, Rowland Heights, South San Gabriel, and Valinda.

In 2000, the two dominant parties in the state of California co-operatively redrew both state and federal legislative districts to preserve the status quo, ensuring the electoral safety of the politicians, thereby reducing the amount of influence the electorate have over elections. Therefore, the 38th district is gerrymandered. However, the Voting Rights Act directs districts to be created to increase minority representation. According to the Almanac of American Politics, one of the reasons the 38th District is so shaped is to have a majority of Hispanics. The major cities of East Los Angeles, Montebello, Norwalk, and Pomona are all majority Latino enclaves surrounded on the east, north, and south by majority white and Asian communities, many of whom vote Republican.^{[citation needed]}

Voting

John Kerry received 65% of the vote in this district in 2004; George W. Bush received 34%.^[1] The district voted for Phil Angelides 58-37% in 2006,^[2] Dianne Feinstein 72-23% in 2006,^[3] Barbara Boxer 71-23% in 2004,^[4] keeping Gray Davis 52-48%^[5] and Cruz Bustamante 47-38%^[6] in 2003, and Davis 62-29% in 2002.^[7]

Election results

2006

2004

References

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