Jim Costa

Infobox_Congressman
name = Jim Costa


date of birth = birth date and age|1952|04|13
place of birth = Fresno, California
occupation= rancher, political assistant
alma_mater = California State University, Fresno
state = California
district = 20th
term_start = January 3 2005
preceded = Cal Dooley
succeeded = Incumbent
party = Democrat
religion = Roman Catholic
spouse = single
residence = Fresno, California

James Manuel Costa (born April 13 1952) is a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of California. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in November 2004 to represent ushr|California|20 ( [http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/ca20_109.gifmap] ). The district takes in large and predominantly Latino portions of Fresno and Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley.

Born in Fresno, Costa is a third-generation family farmer. His grandparents emigrated from Portugal's Azores Islands in the early 20th century.Fact|date=January 2008 He graduated in 1974 from Fresno State, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He was a state legislator for 24 years, serving in the California State Assembly from 1978 until 1994, and in the California State Senate from 1994 until 2002.

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. While Dooley endorsed his chief of staff, Lisa Quigley, as his successor, nearly all of the state Democratic establishment, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, endorsed Costa. Costa won a bruising primary and faced Republican Party state senator Roy Ashburn in November.

On paper, Costa was an overwhelming favorite. The 20th 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 pumped a considerable amount of money into the race. The campaign was fairly negative, with plays on Costa's name, "Costa's going to cost ya," and links with former Governor Gray Davis, calling them "two taxing twins." However, in the end Costa won, taking 54% of the vote to Ashburn's 46%. The contest actually wasn't nearly that close; Ashburn was only able to hold his margin of defeat to 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 chairman of the Natural Resources Committee's Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee. He is also a member of the House Agriculture Committee. He is heavily favored for reelection in 2008; given this district's heavy Democratic tilt it is not likely he will face substantive Republican opposition in the forseable future.

Like most Democrats from the San Joaquin Valley, Costa is somewhat more moderate than is typical for Democrats from California. He is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition.

Committee Assignments

*Agriculture Committee
**Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry
**Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research
*Natural Resources Committee
**Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
**Subcommittee on Water and Power
*Foreign Affairs Committee
**Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
**Subcommittee on Europe
*Co-founder and Co-chair of the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus
*Co-founder of the Congressional Water Caucus
*Co-founder of the Congressional Organ Donation Caucus

External links

* [http://www.house.gov/costa/ U.S. Representative Jim Costa] official House site
*CongBio|c001059
* [http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/can_detail/H4CA20082 Federal Election Commission — Mr. Jim Costa] campaign finance reports and data
* [http://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Jim_Costa.htm On the Issues — Jim Costa] issue positions and quotes
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?CID=N00026341 OpenSecrets.org — Jim Costa] campaign contributions
* [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=BS021490 Project Vote Smart — Representative Jim Costa (CA)] profile
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jim_Costa SourceWatch Congresspedia — Jim Costa] profile
* [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/c001059/ Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Jim Costa] voting record
* [http://www.jimcostaforcongress.com/ Jim Costa for U.S. Congress] official campaign site