Jim Costa

While most of Costa's old territory remained in the 21st, the new 16th absorbed most of the old 20th's share of Fresno County, including his home.

Costa faced Republican Brian Whelan in the general election.

James Manuel Costa (born April 13, 1952) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for CA's 21st congressional district since 2023, previously representing the 20th congressional district from 2005 to 2013 and the 16th congressional district from 2013 to 2023.

A member of the Democratic Party, his district includes most of Fresno.

He graduated in 1970 from San Joaquin Memorial High School, a private Catholic school.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in political science from Fresno State in 1974, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

While in college, Costa worked as an intern in the office of U.S. Representative B. F. Sisk (D-CA).

After graduating from Fresno State, Costa spent two years working as an aide to U.S. Representative John Krebs (D-CA), before becoming Chief of Staff to California State Assemblyman and future U.S. Representative Rick Lehman (D-CA).

Costa is Roman Catholic, and has been described as a liberal Catholic who favors abortion rights.

Costa served in the California State Assembly from 1978 to 1994 before he was elected to the California State Senate from 1994 until 2002.

During his time in the California State Assembly, he served as Majority Caucus Chair.

Costa was elected to the California State Assembly in 1978.

At the time of his election to the California State Legislature, he was the youngest member of the legislature at the age of 26.

He represented part of Fresno County in the state legislature for 24 years, serving in the State Assembly (1978–1994) and the State Senate (1994–2002).

He was a sponsor of the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a bill signed into law in 1995 that prohibits rent control on single-family homes, condominiums, and any rental unit constructed after February 1, 1995.

In 2004, Costa entered the Democratic primary for the 20th district, which was opened up by the retirement of its seven-term incumbent, Cal Dooley.

Dooley endorsed his chief of staff, Lisa Quigley, as his successor, but most of the state's Democratic Party establishment, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, endorsed Costa, who won the bruising primary and faced Republican state senator Roy Ashburn in November.

The 20th district is a heavily Democratic, 63% Latino-majority district; it gave Al Gore his highest vote total outside the state's two large conurbations (Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area in the north and Los Angeles and San Diego to the south).

Nonetheless, the Republicans spent a substantial amount of money on the race.

Ashburn's campaign made plays on Costa's name ("Costa's going to cost ya") and linked him to former governor Gray Davis, calling them "two taxing twins".

Costa won the election with 54% of the vote to Ashburn's 46%.

Ashburn kept the margin within single digits by winning heavily Republican Kings County.

Costa ran unopposed for reelection in 2006.

The Democrats won control of the House in that election, and Costa became chair of the Natural Resources Committee's Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee.

He is a member of the House Agriculture Committee.

Costa was reelected in 2008 with 74% of the vote, the highest percentage for a Democratic incumbent outside Sacramento, the Bay Area, and Southern California.

Costa was challenged for reelection by Republican nominee Andy Vidak.

In his closest race yet, the race was officially called for Costa nearly three weeks after election day, with the unofficial final tally standing at 45,806 votes (51.8%) for Costa and 42,773 (48.2%) for Vidak.

For his first four terms, Costa represented a district including most of the majority-Latino portions of Fresno and Bakersfield.

After the new districts were announced, it was reported that the NRCC considered Costa vulnerable to defeat, but had the district existed in 2008, Barack Obama would have carried it with 57% of the vote.

Redistricting after the 2010 census renumbered his district as the 21st and made it slightly more Republican.

Denham's home had been drawn into the neighboring 10th district (formerly the 18th district), and he sought reelection there.

Costa, who chaired the Blue Dog Coalition in the U.S. House of Representatives, also chaired the Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture during the 117th Congress.

Born in Fresno, Costa is a third-generation family farmer.

His grandparents emigrated from the Azores in the early 20th century.

In November 2011, the League of Conservation Voters ran a series of television ads in Costa's district criticizing his environmental record.

Costa was reelected with 54% of the vote.

Costa faced an unexpectedly close race against Republican Johnny Tacherra, a dairy farmer from rural Fresno County.

In February 2012, Costa announced that he would run in the newly formed 16th district, a much more compact district that included most of Fresno as well as most of Merced.

That district had previously been the 19th, represented by freshman Republican Jeff Denham.