California's 52nd Congressional District

The boundaries of this district may change as a result of California Proposition 50, which voters will decide on November 5, 2025. Click here to read more about the mid-decade redistricting effort in California and other states.

California's 52nd Congressional District

Incumbent

Juan Vargas

Assumed office: January 3, 2023

California's 52nd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives is represented by Juan Vargas (D).

As of the 2020 Census, California representatives represented an average of 761,091 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 704,566 residents.

Elections

2024

See also: California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2024

California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 52

Incumbent Juan Vargas defeated Justin Lee in the general election for U.S. House California District 52 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Juan Vargas (D)	66.3	172,217
	Submit photo	Justin Lee (R)	33.7	87,501

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 259,718
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 52

Incumbent Juan Vargas and Justin Lee advanced from the primary for U.S. House California District 52 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Juan Vargas (D)	65.0	62,511
✔	Submit photo	Justin Lee (R)	35.0	33,611

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 96,122
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jeremiah Suzara (No party preference)

2022

See also: California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 52

Incumbent Juan Vargas defeated Tyler Geffeney in the general election for U.S. House California District 52 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Juan Vargas (D)	66.7	100,686
		Tyler Geffeney (R)	33.3	50,330

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 151,016
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 52

Incumbent Juan Vargas and Tyler Geffeney defeated Joaquín Vázquez in the primary for U.S. House California District 52 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Juan Vargas (D)	59.1	56,827
✔		Tyler Geffeney (R)	30.5	29,348
		Joaquín Vázquez (D)	10.4	9,965

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 96,140
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Judah Hosanna (R)
• Richard Bailey (R)
• Charles Weir (R)

2020

See also: California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 52

Incumbent Scott Peters defeated Jim DeBello in the general election for U.S. House California District 52 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Scott Peters (D)	61.6	244,145
		Jim DeBello (R)	38.4	152,350

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 396,495
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 52

Incumbent Scott Peters and Jim DeBello defeated Nancy Casady and Ryan Cunningham in the primary for U.S. House California District 52 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Scott Peters (D)	49.1	111,897
✔		Jim DeBello (R)	32.4	73,779
		Nancy Casady (D)	16.0	36,422
		Ryan Cunningham (Independent)	2.5	5,701

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 227,799
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Famela Ramos (R)
• Jerlilia Ryans (D)

2018

See also: California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 52

Incumbent Scott Peters defeated Omar Qudrat in the general election for U.S. House California District 52 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Scott Peters (D)	63.8	188,992
		Omar Qudrat (R)	36.2	107,015

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 296,007
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 52

The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 52 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Scott Peters (D)	59.0	98,744
✔		Omar Qudrat (R)	15.3	25,530
		James Veltmeyer (R)	11.4	19,040
		Danny Casara (R)	4.6	7,680
		Michael Allman (R)	3.9	6,561
		John Horst (R)	3.4	5,654
		Jeff Cullen (R)	2.4	4,027

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 167,236
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Alexander Miller (D)
• Freeman Michaels (Independent)

2016

See also: California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Scott Peters (D) defeated Denise Gitsham (R) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Peters and Gitsham defeated Terry Reagan Allvord (R), Jacquie Atkinson (R), Kenneth Canada (R), and John Horst (R) in the top-two primary on June 7, 2016.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Scott Peters Incumbent	56.5%	181,253
	Republican	Denise Gitsham	43.5%	139,403
Total Votes				320,656
Source: California Secretary of State

U.S. House, California District 52 Primary, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Scott Peters Incumbent	58.9%	108,020
	Republican	Denise Gitsham	16.2%	29,658
	Republican	Jacquie Atkinson	13%	23,927
	Republican	Kenneth Canada	4.5%	8,268
	Republican	Terry Allvord	4.5%	8,194
	Republican	John Horst	3%	5,435
Total Votes				183,502
Source: California Secretary of State

2014

See also: California's 52nd Congressional District elections, 2014

Incumbent Scott Peters won re-election to California's 52nd Congressional District in 2014. The race was a battleground district in 2014 due to the low margin of victory for Democrats in the last election and last two presidential elections. Incumbent Scott Peters (D) and Carl DeMaio triumphed in the blanket primary over Kirk Jorgensen (R) and Fred Simon (R). The general election race between Peters and DeMaio remained too close to call for several days after the election. The Associated Press called the race for Peters late on November 7, 2014, but DeMaio did not concede the race until November 9, 2014, due to the fact that there were still between 10,000 to 15,000 ballots left to be counted.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Scott Peters Incumbent	51.6%	98,826
	Republican	Carl DeMaio	48.4%	92,746
Total Votes				191,572
Source: California Secretary of State

2012

See also: California's 52nd Congressional District elections, 2012

The 51st Congressional District of California held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Democrat Scott Peters won election in the district.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Scott Peters	51.2%	151,451
	Republican	Brian Bilbray Incumbent	48.8%	144,459
Total Votes				295,910
Source: California Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

2010
On November 2, 2010, Duncan Hunter won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Ray Lutz (D) and Michael Benoit (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter incumbent	63.1%	139,460
	Democratic	Ray Lutz	32.1%	70,870
	Libertarian	Michael Benoit	4.9%	10,732
Total Votes				221,062

2008
On November 4, 2008, Duncan Hunter won election to the United States House. He defeated Mike Lumpkin (D), Michael Benoit (L) and Joseph Ryan (Write-in) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter	56.4%	160,724
	Democratic	Mike Lumpkin	38.9%	111,051
	Libertarian	Michael Benoit	4.7%	13,316
	Write-in	Joseph Ryan	0%	47
Total Votes				285,138

2006
On November 7, 2006, Duncan Hunter won re-election to the United States House. He defeated John Rinaldi (D) and Michael Benoit (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter incumbent	64.6%	123,696
	Democratic	John Rinaldi	32%	61,208
	Libertarian	Michael Benoit	3.4%	6,465
Total Votes				191,369

2004
On November 2, 2004, Duncan Hunter won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Brian Keliher (D) and Michael Benoit (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter incumbent	69.2%	187,799
	Democratic	Brian Keliher	27.6%	74,857
	Libertarian	Michael Benoit	3.2%	8,782
Total Votes				271,438

2002
On November 5, 2002, Duncan Hunter won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Peter Moore-Kochlacs (D) and Michael Benoit (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter incumbent	70.2%	118,561
	Democratic	Peter Moore-Kochlacs	25.8%	43,526
	Libertarian	Michael Benoit	4.1%	6,923
Total Votes				169,010

2000
On November 7, 2000, Duncan Hunter won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Craig Barkacs (D), Michael Benoit (L) and Robert Sherman (Natural Law) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter incumbent	64.7%	131,345
	Democratic	Craig Barkacs	31.3%	63,537
	Libertarian	Michael Benoit	3%	5,995
	Natural Law	Robert Sherman	1%	2,117
Total Votes				202,994

1998
On November 3, 1998, Duncan Hunter won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Lynn Badler (L) and Adrienne Pelton (Natural Law) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 1998
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter incumbent	75.7%	116,251
	Libertarian	Lynn Badler	14.3%	21,933
	Natural Law	Adrienne Pelton	10%	15,380
Total Votes				153,564

1996
On November 5, 1996, Duncan Hunter won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Darity Wesley (D), Janice Jordan (P&F), Dante Ridley (L) and Peter Robert Ballantyne (Natural Law) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 1996
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter incumbent	65.5%	116,746
	Democratic	Darity Wesley	29.8%	53,104
	Peace and Freedom	Janice Jordan	2%	3,649
	Libertarian	Dante Ridley	1.9%	3,329
	Natural Law	Peter Robert Ballantyne	0.8%	1,493
Total Votes				178,321

1994
On November 8, 1994, Duncan Hunter won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Janet Gastil (D), Joe Shea (L) and Art Edelman (P&F) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 1994
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter incumbent	64%	109,201
	Democratic	Janet Gastil	31.1%	53,024
	Libertarian	Joe Shea	3.1%	5,240
	Peace and Freedom	Art Edelman	1.9%	3,221
Total Votes				170,686

1992
On November 3, 1992, Duncan Hunter won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Janet Gastil (D), Joe Shea (L) and Dennis Gretsinger (P&F) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 52 General Election, 1992
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Duncan Hunter incumbent	52.9%	112,995
	Democratic	Janet Gastil	41.2%	88,076
	Libertarian	Joe Shea	3.3%	6,977
	Peace and Freedom	Dennis Gretsinger	2.7%	5,734
	N/A	Write-in	0%	2
Total Votes				213,784

Redistricting

2020-2021

See also: Redistricting in California after the 2020 census

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission voted 14-0 in favor of a new congressional district map on December 20, 2021, and delivered those maps to the secretary of state on December 27, 2021. California was apportioned 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2020 census, a net loss of one seat compared to apportionment after the 2010 census. This map took effect for California's 2022 congressional elections.

How does redistricting in California work? In California, a non-politician commission draws both congressional and state legislative district lines. Established in 2008 by ballot initiative, the commission comprises 14 members: five Democrats, five Republicans, and four belonging to neither party. A panel of state auditors selects the pool of nominees from which the commissioners are appointed. This pool comprises 20 Democrats, 20 Republicans, and 20 belonging to neither party. The majority and minority leaders of both chambers of the state legislature may each remove two members from each of the aforementioned groups. The first eight commission members are selected at random from the remaining nominees. These first eight comprise three Democrats, three Republicans, and two belonging to neither party. The first eight commissioners appoint the remaining six, which must include two Democrats, two Republicans, and two belonging to neither party.

Commissioners must meet the following requirements in order to serve:

1. Members must have voted in at least two of the last three statewide elections.
2. Members cannot have switched party affiliation for at least five years.
3. "Neither commissioners nor immediate family may have been, within 10 years of appointment, a candidate for federal or state office or member of a party central committee; an officer, employee, or paid consultant to a federal or state candidate or party; a registered lobbyist or paid legislative staff; or a donor of more than $2,000 to an elected candidate."
4. Members cannot be "staff, consultants or contractors for state or federal government" while serving as commissioners. The same prohibition applies to the family of commission members.

In order to approve a redistricting plan, nine of the commission's 14 members must vote for it. These nine must include three Democrats, three Republicans, and three belonging to neither party. Maps drawn by the commission may be overturned by public referendum. In the event that a map is overturned by the public, the California Supreme Court must appoint a group to draw a new map.

The California Constitution requires that districts be contiguous. Further, the state constitution mandates that "to the extent possible, [districts] must ... preserve the geographic integrity of cities, counties, neighborhoods and communities of interest." Districts must also "encourage compactness." State Senate and Assembly districts should be nested within each other where possible.

California District 52
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

California District 52
starting January 3, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

2010-2011

This is the 52nd Congressional District of California after the 2001 redistricting process.

See also: Redistricting in California after the 2010 census

In 2011, the California State Legislature re-drew the congressional districts based on updated population information from the 2010 census.

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

2026

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is D+13. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 13 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made California's 52nd the 98th most Democratic district nationally.

2024

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+18. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 18 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made California's 52nd the 77th most Democratic district nationally.

Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have defeated Donald Trump (R) 67.4%-30.5%.

2022

Heading into the 2022 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+18. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 18 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made California's 52nd the 76th most Democratic district nationally.

Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 67.4% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 30.5%.

2018

Heading into the 2018 elections, based on results from the 2016 and 2012 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+6. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 6 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made California's 52nd Congressional District the 155th most Democratic nationally.

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.97. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.97 points toward that party.

See also

• Redistricting in California
• California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2024
• California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2022
• California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2020
• California's 52nd Congressional District election, 2018

External links

• GovTrack District 52

Footnotes

[show]

California's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Alex Padilla (D)

Adam Schiff (D)

Representatives

District 1

Doug LaMalfa (R)

District 2

Jared Huffman (D)

District 3

Kevin Kiley (R)

District 4

Mike Thompson (D)

District 5

Tom McClintock (R)

District 6

Ami Bera (D)

District 7

Doris Matsui (D)

District 8

John Garamendi (D)

District 9

Josh Harder (D)

District 10

Mark DeSaulnier (D)

District 11

Nancy Pelosi (D)

District 12

Lateefah Simon (D)

District 13

Adam Gray (D)

District 14

Eric Swalwell (D)

District 15

Kevin Mullin (D)

District 16

Sam Liccardo (D)

District 17

Ro Khanna (D)

District 18

Zoe Lofgren (D)

District 19

Jimmy Panetta (D)

District 20

Vince Fong (R)

District 21

Jim Costa (D)

District 22

David Valadao (R)

District 23

Jay Obernolte (R)

District 24

Salud Carbajal (D)

District 25

Raul Ruiz (D)

District 26

Julia Brownley (D)

District 27

George Whitesides (D)

District 28

Judy Chu (D)

District 29

Luz Rivas (D)

District 30

Laura Friedman (D)

District 31

Gil Cisneros (D)

District 32

Brad Sherman (D)

District 33

Pete Aguilar (D)

District 34

Jimmy Gomez (D)

District 35

Norma Torres (D)

District 36

Ted Lieu (D)

District 37

Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D)

District 38

Linda Sánchez (D)

District 39

Mark Takano (D)

District 40

Young Kim (R)

District 41

Ken Calvert (R)

District 42

Robert Garcia (D)

District 43

Maxine Waters (D)

District 44

Nanette Barragán (D)

District 45

Derek Tran (D)

District 46

Lou Correa (D)

District 47

Dave Min (D)

District 48

Darrell Issa (R)

District 49

Mike Levin (D)

District 50

Scott Peters (D)

District 51

Sara Jacobs (D)

District 52

Juan Vargas (D)

Democratic Party (45)

Republican Party (9)