California's 33rd Congressional District elections, 2014

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	2016 → ← 2012
	; ; California's 33rd Congressional District
	General Election Date ; November 4, 2014
	Primary Date ; June 3, 2014
	November 4 Election Winner: ; Ted Lieu
	Incumbent prior to election: ; Henry Waxman
	Race Ratings; Cook Political Report: Solid D; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe D
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	2014 U.S. Senate Elections
	2014 U.S. House Elections

The 33rd Congressional District of California held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014.

Ted Lieu won election to the seat in 2014. He defeated Elan Carr (R) in the general election.^[3]

Sixteen candidates competed in the primary for the open seat left by the retirement of Rep. Henry Waxman (D). Of those 16, Elan Carr (R) and Ted Lieu (D) advanced past the primary. Trailing in third and fourth were Wendy Greuel (D) and Marianne Williamson (I).^[4] Despite the media attention surrounding Williamson's congressional run and the potential it had to cause the district to be competitive if she and a Democrat won the primary, she did not advance to the general election.

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
March 7, 2014	June 3, 2014	November 4, 2014

Primary: California uses a top-two primary system, in which all candidates appear on the same ballot. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election. In states that do not use a top-two system, all parties are usually able to put forward a candidate for the general election if they choose to.^[5]^[6]

Unlike the top-two format used in some states (Louisiana and Georgia special elections for example), a general election between the top-two candidates in California occurs regardless of whether the top candidate received 50% of the vote in the first round of elections.

As of October 2025, California was one of five states to use a top-two primary system, or a variation of the top-two system for some or all statewide primaries. See here for more information.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Voter registration: To vote in the primary, voters had to register by May 19, 2014. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 20, 2014 (the 15th calendar day before that election).^[7]

See also: California elections, 2014

Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Henry Waxman (D), who was first elected in 1974. Waxman did not seek re-election in 2014.

As of the 2010 redistricting cycle, California's 33rd Congressional District was located in the southern portion of the state and included part of Los Angeles County.^[8]

Candidates

General election candidates

Ted Lieu

Elan Carr

June 3, 2014, primary results

Marianne Williamson^[9]

Withdrew

Brent Roske^[10]

Election results

General election

**U.S. House, California District 33 General Election, 2014**
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ted Lieu	59.2%	108,331
	Republican	Elan Carr	40.8%	74,700
Total Votes				183,031
Source: California Secretary of State

Primary election

**U.S. House, California District 33 Primary, 2014**
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Elan Carr	21.6%	23,476
	Democratic	Ted Lieu	18.8%	20,432
	Democratic	Wendy Greuel	16.6%	17,988
	Independent	Marianne Williamson	13.2%	14,335
	Democratic	Matt Miller	12%	13,005
	Republican	Lily Gilani	7.1%	7,673
	Republican	Kevin Mottus	2.4%	2,561
	Democratic	Barbara Mulvaney	2.3%	2,516
	Democratic	David Kanuth	1.4%	1,554
	Democratic	Kristie Holmes	0.9%	994
	Libertarian	Mark Herd	0.8%	883
	Green	Michael Sachs	0.7%	732
	Democratic	Michael Shapiro	0.6%	650
	Independent	Tom Fox	0.5%	509
	Democratic	Zein Obagi	0.4%	477
	Democratic	Vince Flaherty	0.3%	345
	Democratic	James Graf	0.3%	327
	Independent	Brent Roske	0.2%	188
Total Votes				108,645
Source: California Secretary of State

Key votes

Below are important votes the incumbent cast during the 113th Congress.

Government shutdown

See also: United States budget debate, 2013

On September 30, 2013, the House passed a final stopgap spending bill before the shutdown went into effect. The bill included a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and would have also stripped the bill of federal subsidies for congressional members and staff. It passed through the House with a vote of 228-201.^[11] At 1 a.m. on October 1, 2013, one hour after the shutdown officially began, the House voted to move forward with going to a conference. In short order, Sen. Harry Reid rejected the call to conference.^[12] Henry Waxman voted against the stopgap spending bill that would have delayed the individual mandate.^[13]

The shutdown ended on October 16, 2013, when the House took a vote on HR 2775 after it was approved by the Senate. The bill to reopen the government lifted the $16.7 trillion debt limit and funded the government through January 15, 2014. Federal employees also received retroactive pay for the shutdown period. The only concession made by Senate Democrats was to require income verification for Obamacare subsidies.^[14] The House passed the legislation shortly after the Senate, by a vote of 285-144, with all 144 votes against the legislation coming from Republican members. Henry Waxman voted for HR 2775.^[15]

Endorsements

The League of Conservation Voters endorsed two Democratic candidates in the race, Ted Lieu and Wendy Greuel.^[16]

Ted Lieu

Lieu was endorsed by Rep. Karen Bass.
- She said in her endorsement, "I have worked closely with Ted Lieu for many years. He helped elect me as Speaker of the California Assembly and was on my leadership team during the deep fiscal crisis in California. We made the tough choices to get the state back on track, and that's exactly what Ted will do for our country. Ted's leadership, experience and bipartisan approach to solving some of the state's largest problems is what we need more of in Washington."^[17]

Lieu received the endorsement of the Democratic Party in a local vote on February 8, 2014.^[18]

Lieu also received the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in the primary.^[19]

Lieu was endorsed by former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan, a Republican.^[20]

On March 25, 2014, Lieu gained the endorsement of the California School Employees Association, the largest classified school employees union in the United States.^[21]

Lieu also received the endorsement of the California Teachers Association on April 4, 2014. CTA President Dean Vogel said, "Ted has always been a strong advocate for fully funding our public schools and colleges, which are finally beginning to heal from years of devastating cuts. We strongly endorse Ted Lieu for Congress, and look forward to his leadership in Washington."^[22]

Lieu received the endorsement of retiring incumbent Henry Waxman on June 5, 2014. Waxman said, "Ted is the son of hard-working immigrants and has served with distinction in our armed forces and in public office; his life story and experience have earned him my strong admiration. I endorse Ted Lieu because he will always work tirelessly to strengthen the middle class, make higher education more affordable, help workers save for retirement, and protect our privacy from intrusive NSA surveillance."^[23]

Marianne Williamson

Actress Eva Longoria endorsed Marianne Williamson (I) on April 1, 2014.^[24]
- In an endorsement video, Longoria said, "There's a problem in the political system right now, and I find that we have to approach solving this problem in a new way ... and I find Marianne has the tools, the capability, the intellect, the ideology that is going to push against the status quo...She’s an amazing human being, a motivational speaker, and she’s running for Congress, actually [in California]."^[25]
Williamson also received the endorsement of Brent Roske, a fellow Independent candidate who dropped out of the race in May 2014.^[26]

Media

Marianne Williamson

Eva Longoria's endorsement of Marianne Williamson on April 1, 2014.

Wendy Greuel

Wendy Greuel's first TV ad

Matt Miller

Matt Miller ad - A Different Choice

Elan Carr

Elan Carr ad - Doing What's Right

Campaign contributions

Wendy Greuel

Wendy Greuel (2014) Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
April Quarterly^[27]	April 15, 2014	$0	$672,214	$(178,868)	$493,346
Pre-Primary^[28]	May 22, 2014	$493,346	$377,918	$(685,304)	$185,960
			Running totals
			$1,050,132	$(864,172)

James Graf

James Graf (2014) Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
April Quarterly^[29]	April 14, 2014	$0	$1,003,390	$(121,626)	$881,763
			Running totals
			$1,003,390	$(121,626)

**As of the 2014 April Quarterly Report, James Graf's committee owed $1,000,000 in outstanding loans to James Graf.