California New Members 2025

Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)

Date of Birth / June 22, 1960 
Residence / Burbank, Calif. 
Occupation / U.S. representative
Education / B.A., Stanford University; J.D., Harvard Law School 
Family / Married to Eve with two kids

Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D) isn’t a stranger around the Capitol, and he’s now returning there to replace the revered late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D).   

The California congressman has been known for being a foe of former President Trump. He led the first Trump impeachment inquiry and was manager at that impeachment trial. He has served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee and was a member of the committee investigating the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021. 

He is a Bay Area native. After law school, he served as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. He was a state senator before being elected to Congress in a race that flipped a long-held Republican seat. He’s held that seat for 12 terms. He’s a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee.  

Schiff has been a leading voice in support of Ukraine in Congress. He has focused on national security, democracy and foreign policy issues. 

— Liz Crisp 

Rep.-elect Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.-12)

Date of Birth / Jan. 29, 1977 
Residence / Oakland, Calif.
Occupation/ Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors member
Education / B.A., Mills College; MPA, University of San Francisco
Family / Widowed with two daughters 

Lateefah Simon, a member of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) board of directors and ally to Vice President Harris, defeated fellow Democrat Jennifer Tran, a professor at California State University, East Bay, in the race for Rep. Barbara Lee’s (D-Calif.) House seat. 

Lee vacated her seat to run for California Senate, but she failed to make it into the November runoff election. Lee’s seat in the 12th Congressional District encompasses portions of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont and San Leandro in northern California. 

Simon uniquely has a close connection to Harris; they worked together when the vice president was San Francisco’s top prosecutor. Simon took the helm of the district attorney’s recidivism program “Back on Track.” 

Simon’s resume also includes being a senior adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on police reform and taking the helm of racial justice and policy advocacy group Akonadi Foundation. 

The BART board member was born legally blind, making her one of a small handful who have been elected to Congress with impaired vision. 

— Caroline Vakil 

Rep.-elect Adam Gray  (D-Calif.-13)

Date of Birth / Sept. 23, 1977  
Residence / Merced, Calif.  
Occupation / Small business owner and educator at University of California, Merced  
Education / B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara
Family / Not married and no children 

Democrat Adam Gray ousted Republican Rep. John Duarte in a competitive rematch, flipping California’s 13th Congressional District back into Democratic hands.  

Gray had finished just a few hundred votes behind his Republican rival in the midterms, one of the closest congressional races in the country that year.  

Born and raised in Merced, Gray represented the area for a decade in the California State Assembly, where he notably helped found the California Problem Solvers Caucus, a group aimed at bringing together lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to address top issues. As he has looked to jump into the House, Gray has promised to put aside partisan politics to deliver for his Californian constituents.   

Among his legislative wins at the state Assembly, Gray has touted his work to address the area’s shortage of doctors by securing funding for a new medical school, and to address water management issues in the Golden State. He is also an educator and the associate director of the Center for Analytical Political Engagement at the University of California, Merced. 

— Julia Mueller 

Rep.-elect Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.-16)

Date of Birth / April 16, 1970 
Residence: / San José, Calif. 
Occupation / Former mayor of San José, Stanford Law School lecturer 
Education / B.A., Georgetown University; MPP and J.D., Harvard University
Family / Married to Jessica García-Kohl 

Former San José Mayor Sam Liccardo defeated fellow Democrat Evan Low, a California Assembly member, for California’s 16th Congressional District, which is located just south of San Francisco and includes much of Silicon Valley. 

The two Democrats went head-to-head in November after they placed as the top two finishers in the California primary in March. California has a jungle primary system, meaning all candidates are listed under one ballot, regardless of party, for each office, and the top two finishers advance to the November general election. 

Liccardo served as San José mayor from 2015-23, previously serving as a San José City Council member and as a prosecutor for both the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office and Southern District of California. 

More recently, Liccardo taught several courses at Stanford Law School. 

Liccardo is replacing Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who was elected to Congress in 1992 and announced last year she would retire from office. 

— Caroline Vakil 

Rep.-elect George Whitesides (D-Calif.-27)

Date of Birth / March 3, 1974 
Residence / Agua Dulce, Calif. 
Occupation / Former CEO of Virgin Galactic, former chief of staff for NASA in Obama administration 
Education / B.A., Princeton University; Master of Philosophy, Cambridge University; Fulbright Scholar 
Family / Married to Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides with two children 

Former Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides defeated Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) in an upset for a northern Los Angeles-area House seat. 

Whitesides served on former President Obama’s transition team and was a chief of staff to NASA under former President Obama. Garcia, a Navy vet and former executive at Raytheon, had represented the district since 2020 after flipping it during a special election. 

Prior to his run for Congress, Whitesides has also been involved in tackling fires. He led a workshop in 2021 at the California Institute of Technology on detecting and tracking fires, and he also co-launched a group called Megafire Action. 

President Biden won the district in 2020, which covers Santa Clarita and Lancaster, by more than 12 points. 

— Caroline Vakil 

Rep.-elect Luz Rivas (D-Calif.-29)

Date of Birth / Feb. 6, 1974   
Residence / Los Angeles 
Occupation / Assemblywoman  
Education / B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; master’s degree in education, Harvard University
Family / N/A  

Luz Rivas has served as a Democratic member for the 43rd Assembly District of California — which encompasses parts of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles — since 2018.  

She is a member of the Assembly’s Progressive Caucus and has advocated for education and health care funding, environmental justice and jobs. The daughter of parents who immigrated from Mexico, Rivas grew up in the area she represents in a rented room in a house and later a converted garage and backhouses with a single mother and her two sisters.   

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Rivas’s passion for a STEM career came from her fifth-grade teacher, who encouraged her to learn about computers. 

After completing a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT, Rivas pursued a master’s degree in education from Harvard, which came from her passion in wanting to get kids interested in engineering.  

Dedicated to helping girls in the San Fernando Valley become more interested in science and engineering, Rivas founded DIY (Do it Yourself) Girls in 2011, an organization focused on empowering young women to pursue careers in STEM.  

— Juliann Ventura 

Rep.-elect Laura Friedman (D-Calif.-30)

Date of Birth / Dec. 3, 1966 
Residence / Glendale, Calif. 
Occupation / California State Assembly member 
Education / B.A., University of Rochester, N.Y. 
Family / Married to Guillaume Lemoine with one daughter 

California State Assemblymember Laura Friedman won the Los Angeles-area House seat to replace Rep. Adam Schiff (D). 

Schiff opted against seeking reelection to vie for the California Senate seat left open by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D), which is temporarily being filled by Sen. Laphonza Butler (D). 

Friedman has served in the California State Assembly since 2017, representing the 44th district, which encompasses Los Angeles, Burbank and Glendale, among other cities. Prior to the California State Assembly, Friedman was the mayor of Glendale; before that, she served on the Glendale City Council. 

Friedman had a background in TV and film before she entered politics. 

California’s 30th Congressional District went handily for President Biden in 2020, making Friedman the heavy favorite over Republican Alex Balekian to win the seat this year. 

— Caroline Vakil 

Rep.-elect Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.-31)

Date of Birth / Feb. 12, 1971  
Residence / Covina, Calif. 
Occupation / Education/ veterans advocate  
Education / B.A., George Washington University; MBA, Regis University; M.A., Brown University
Family / Married to Jacki Cisneros with two children  

Democrat Gil Cisneros has achieved a political comeback, winning the open seat in California’s heavily blue 31st District to replace the retiring Rep. Grace Napolitano (D).  

Cisneros is a Navy veteran who served one term in the House from 2019 to 2021. He rode the anti-Trump wave into office in a neighboring district but lost a close race in a rematch with Rep. Young Kim (R).  

After losing reelection, Cisneros joined the Biden administration as the military’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, where his work put him at the center of the Pentagon’s culture wars. He left that position last year before publicly announcing his bid to return to Congress.  

He is a former Republican who left the party in 2008. He became a millionaire and philanthropist after winning a California lottery jackpot of $266 million in 2010.   

Cisneros is a gun safety advocate who backed universal background checks and an assault weapons ban during his time in the House. He was a frequent critic of former President Trump and called out Senate Republicans for confirming Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court while stalling on the coronavirus relief package.   

— Nathaniel Weixel 

Rep-elect Derek Tran (D-Calif.-45)

Date of Birth / Dec. 22, 1980
Residence / Garden Grove, Calif.
Occupation / Consumer and employee rights attorney, pharmacy owner  
Education / B.S., Bentley University; J.D., Glendale University College of Law
Family / Married to Michelle with three children, ages 8, 6, and 2 

Derek Tran, 43, a consumer-rights attorney from Garden Grove, Calif., is the Democratic representative-elect for California’s 45th Congressional District, representing northern Orange County.  

Tran is a veteran of the U.S. Army and the son of refugees who fled Vietnam. His wife, Michelle, is a pharmacist, and the two ran a pharmacy. They have three children.  

Among the positions Tran outlined in his campaign are federal funding for Planned Parenthood; raising wages for teachers and increasing investment in public schools and early childhood education; and expanding Medicare to take on insurance and pharmaceutical companies to cut health care costs.  

He supports universal background checks for gun purchases and a ban on assault weapons, and he favors putting “more police on the streets” to address crime, along with more investments in violence prevention and rehabilitation programs.  

Tran supports the development of blockchain and cryptocurrencies but calls for “establishing clear regulations for this technology” to foster growth, safeguard consumers and protect national security.  

— Laura Kelly 

Rep.-elect Dave Min (D-Calif.-47)

Date of Birth / March 5, 1976 
Residence / Irvine, Calif.
Occupation / California state senator 
Education / University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business and School of Arts and Sciences; Harvard Law School 
Family / Married to Jane Stoever with three children 

California state Sen. Dave Min (D) is slated to keep a competitive California House seat blue, defeating Republican Scott Baugh, an Orange County businessman and former California State Assembly minority leader. 

The two vied for Rep. Katie Porter’s (D-Calif.) House seat in the 47th Congressional District, south of Los Angeles in Orange County. Porter opted to run for California Senate, but she failed to make it into the November runoff election. 

Min survived a primary challenge from another Democrat, Joanna Weiss, which turned particularly personal. Weiss hit Min over a DUI he received last year. Min apologized on social media and said in part, “I accept full responsibility and there is no excuse for my actions.” 

Min’s resume includes being an economic and financial policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a former business law professor at University of California, Irvine School of Law. 

Min previously ran against Porter for the Orange County seat in 2018 but failed to make the runoff that cycle; Porter and former Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Calif.) proceeded to the general election that year, and Porter defeated Walters. 

— Caroline Vakil