Early life, education, and early career

A Bay Area resident, Lofgren attended Gunn High School (1966) in Palo Alto, and while in high school, Lofgren was a member of the Junior State of America, a student-run political debate, activism, and student governance organization. She earned her B.A. at Stanford University (1970) and a J.D. at Santa Clara University School of Law (1975).

In 1978 she married John Marshall Collins.

Returning to San Jose, Lofgren worked in Don Edwards' district office, while at the same time earning her law degree. After two years as partner at an immigration law firm in San Jose, she was elected first to a community college board, then to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, where she served for 13 years.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1994, Lofgren entered the Democratic primary in what was then the 16th District, after Edwards retired after 32 years in Congress. It was the real contest in this heavily Democratic district. A decided underdog, she managed to defeat the favorite, former San Jose mayor Tom McEnery. Lofgren's victory virtually assured her of becoming only the second person to represent the district since its creation in 1963 (it was numbered as the 9th District from 1963 to 1975, as the 10th from 1975 to 1993, the 16th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 19th since 2013). She has been reelected ten times with no substantive opposition.

In 2006, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) reported that Lofgren's campaign had paid to two companies controlled by her husband $348,186 over the previous six years for rent and services such as accounting and fundraising.

Lofgren is the chair of the 34-member California Democratic Congressional Delegation. She serves on the Judiciary Committee and is the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. In April 2011, she became the first member of Congress to call for federal investigation into the Secure Communities deportation program.

Beginning in 2009, Lofgren served as chair of the House Ethics Committee. In doing so, she presided over a rare sanction of censure, against long-time member Charles B. Rangel.

In the Stop Online Piracy Act House Judiciary Committee hearings, she defended the current state of the internet in opposition of the bill. She has also opposed the data retention requirements in the H.R. 1981 (the Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011).

In February 2013, Lofgren became one of the sponsors of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act to expedite open access to taxpayer-funded research.

In May, 2016, Lofgren was publicly reprimanded during a House Judiciary Committee hearing after calling a witness an "ignorant bigot." Following the reprimand, Lofgren responded, "I cannot allow that kind of bigotry to go into the record unchallenged.”

Committee assignments

• United States House Committee on House Administration
  • Subcommittee on Oversight (Ranking Member)
• United States House Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement (Ranking Member)
• United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
  • Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight

Caucuses

• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (Associate Member)

Other leadership positions

• Chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation

Electoral history

16th Congressional District of California, Democratic Primary election, June 7, 1994
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren	16,168	45.3
	Democratic	Tom McEnery	15,037	42.2
	Democratic	Dick Lane	1,537	4.3
	Democratic	Cynthia Williamson	1,414	4.0
	Democratic	Tom Harney	780	2.2
	Democratic	Edward R. Dykes	721	2.0
Total votes			35,657	100.0
Voter turnout			%

United States House of Representatives elections, 1994
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren	74,935	65.0
	Republican	Lyle J. Smith	40,409	35.0
	No party	Barraza (write-in)	8	0.0%
Total votes			115,352	100.0
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives elections, 1996
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren (incumbent)	94,020	65.7
	Republican	Chuck Wojslaw	43,197	30.2
	Libertarian	David Bonino	4,124	2.8
	Natural Law	Abaan Abu-Shumays	1,866	1.3
Total votes			143,207	100.0
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives elections, 1998
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren (incumbent)	85,503	72.82
	Republican	Horace Eugene Thayn	27,494	23.42
	Natural Law	John H. Black	4,417	3.76
Total votes			117,414	100.0
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives elections, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren (incumbent)	115,118	72.1
	Republican	Horace "Gene" Thayn	37,213	23.3
	Libertarian	Dennis Michael Umphress	4,742	3.0
	Natural Law	Edward J. Klein	2,673	1.6
Total votes			159,746	100.0
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives elections, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren (incumbent)	72,370	67.1
	Republican	Douglas Adams McNea	32,182	29.8
	Libertarian	Dennis Michael Umphress	3,434	3.1
Total votes			104,556	100.0
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives elections, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren (incumbent)	129,222	70.9
	Republican	Lawrence R. Wiesner	47,992	26.4
	Libertarian	Markus Welch	5,067	2.7
Total votes			182,281	100.0
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives elections, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren (incumbent)	98,929	72.8
	Republican	Charel Winston	37,130	27.2
Total votes			136,059	100.0
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives elections, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren (incumbent)	146,481	71.3
	Republican	Charel Winston	49,399	24.1
	Libertarian	Steven Wells	9,447	4.6
Total votes			205,327	100.0
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives elections, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren (incumbent)	105,841	67.9
	Republican	Daniel Sahagun	37,913	24.3
	Libertarian	Edward M. Gonzalez	12,304	7.8
Total votes			156,058	100.0
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zoe Lofgren (incumbent)	162,300	73.2
	Republican	Robert Murray	59,313	26.8
Total votes			221,613	100.0
	Democratic hold

[ Source: Wikipedia ]