Spotlight on the CA 3rd Congressional District

The 3rd Congressional District includes much of suburban Sacramento, parts of Solano County to the west, and some of the Mother Lode country in Amador and Calaveras Counties to the east, where it climbs over the Sierras to Alpine County, the smallest county in California (1,208 people in 2000) to the Nevada line. More than 80% of the district residents live in Sacramento County. Greater Sacramento is one of the fastest growing metro areas in the U.S. with the bulk of the boom occurring in regions east of the city toward the Sierra foothills. Once a Democratic stronghold, the district became more conservative over the years and finally elected a Republican, Doug Ose, to Congress in 1998. Redistricting in 2001 carved out the more Democratic areas that previously lay within the district’s borders. Republican Dan Lungren, whose return to public service was triggered by the events of 9-11, won to this seat in 2004, but that was not the first time he served in Congress. He represented CA's 34th Congressional District from 1979-1989 before running a successful campaign for CA Attorney General, an office in which he served for two terms. He mounted an unsuccessful bid for Governor of CA in 1998, losing to Gray Davis. Lungren experienced large margins of victory in 2004 and 2006, but faced stronger opposition in 2008, beating Democrat Bill Durston (also Lungren’s opponent in 2006) by a much closer margin. The CA 3rd awarded George W. Bush sizable victory margins in 2000 and 2004, yet chose Barack Obama, albeit narrowly, over John McCain in 2008. Lungren’s relatively close call in 2008 offered Democrats hope that he might be vulnerable in 2010, yet they were not able to lure a high profile candidate into the fray. Lungren defeated Ami Bera, physician and relative unknown, by a convincing margin of 52% to 43%.