California's 17th Congressional District

California's 17th Congressional District

Incumbent

Ro Khanna

Assumed office: January 3, 2017

California's 17th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives is represented by Ro Khanna (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 17th Congressional District election, 2024

California's 17th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 17

Incumbent Ro Khanna defeated Anita Chen in the general election for U.S. House California District 17 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ro Khanna (D)	67.7	172,462
		Anita Chen (R)	32.3	82,415

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 254,877
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 17

Incumbent Ro Khanna and Anita Chen defeated Ritesh Tandon, Mario Ramirez, and Joe Dehn in the primary for U.S. House California District 17 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ro Khanna (D)	62.9	74,004
✔		Anita Chen (R)	26.8	31,568
		Ritesh Tandon (D)	4.9	5,738
		Mario Ramirez (D)	3.8	4,498
		Joe Dehn (L)	1.6	1,839

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 117,647
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2022

See also: California's 17th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 17

Incumbent Ro Khanna defeated Ritesh Tandon in the general election for U.S. House California District 17 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ro Khanna (D)	70.9	127,853
		Ritesh Tandon (R)	29.1	52,400

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 180,253
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 17

Incumbent Ro Khanna and Ritesh Tandon defeated Stephen Forbes, Rao Ravul, and Joe Dehn in the primary for U.S. House California District 17 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ro Khanna (D)	66.0	74,892
✔		Ritesh Tandon (R)	25.3	28,730
	Submit photo	Stephen Forbes (D)	5.0	5,694
	Submit photo	Rao Ravul (D)	2.1	2,394
		Joe Dehn (L)	1.6	1,836

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 113,546
= 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

• Sarah Katz (D)

2020

See also: California's 17th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 17

Incumbent Ro Khanna defeated Ritesh Tandon in the general election for U.S. House California District 17 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ro Khanna (D)	71.3	212,137
		Ritesh Tandon (R)	28.7	85,199

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 297,336
= 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 17

Incumbent Ro Khanna and Ritesh Tandon defeated Stephen Forbes and Joe Dehn in the primary for U.S. House California District 17 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ro Khanna (D)	68.6	107,638
✔		Ritesh Tandon (R)	21.4	33,527
	Submit photo	Stephen Forbes (D)	7.7	12,110
		Joe Dehn (L)	2.2	3,523

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 156,798
= 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.

2018

See also: California's 17th Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 17

Incumbent Ro Khanna defeated Ron Cohen in the general election for U.S. House California District 17 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ro Khanna (D)	75.3	159,105
		Ron Cohen (R)	24.7	52,057

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 211,162
= 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 17

Incumbent Ro Khanna and Ron Cohen defeated Khanh Tran, Stephen Forbes, and Kennita Watson in the primary for U.S. House California District 17 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ro Khanna (D)	62.0	72,676
✔		Ron Cohen (R)	22.9	26,865
		Khanh Tran (D)	7.2	8,455
	Submit photo	Stephen Forbes (D)	5.3	6,259
		Kennita Watson (L)	2.6	2,997

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 117,252
= 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.

2016

See also: California's 17th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Mike Honda (D) was defeated by Ro Khanna (D) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Honda and Khanna defeated Pierluigi Oliverio (D), Ron Cohen (R), Peter Kuo (R), and Kennita Watson (L) in the top-two primary on June 7, 2016.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ro Khanna	61%	142,268
	Democratic	Mike Honda Incumbent	39%	90,924
Total Votes				233,192
Source: California Secretary of State

U.S. House, California District 17 Primary, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ro Khanna	39.1%	52,059
	Democratic	Mike Honda Incumbent	37.4%	49,823
	Republican	Peter Kuo	9.2%	12,224
	Republican	Ron Cohen	7.8%	10,448
	Democratic	Pierluigi Oliverio	4.2%	5,533
	Libertarian	Kennita Watson	2.3%	3,125
Total Votes				133,212
Source: California Secretary of State

2014

See also: California's 17th Congressional District elections, 2014

The 17th Congressional District of California held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Mike Honda (D) defeated Ro Khanna (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Mike Honda Incumbent	51.8%	69,561
	Democratic	Ro Khanna	48.2%	64,847
Total Votes				134,408
Source: California Secretary of State

2012

See also: California's 17th Congressional District elections, 2012

The 17th Congressional District of California held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. The incumbent from the 15th District, Mike Honda, won election in the district.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Mike Honda Incumbent	73.5%	159,392
	Republican	Evelyn Li	26.5%	57,336
Total Votes				216,728
Source: California Secretary of State

2010
On November 2, 2010, Sam Farr won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jeff Taylor (R), Eric Petersen (G), Mary Larkin (L) and Ronald Kabat (Write-in) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Sam Farr incumbent	66.7%	118,734
	Republican	Jeff Taylor	29.9%	53,176
	Green	Eric Petersen	1.9%	3,397
	Libertarian	Mary Larkin	1.5%	2,742
	Write-in	Ronald Kabat	0.1%	90
Total Votes				178,139

2008
On November 4, 2008, Sam Farr won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jeff Taylor (R) and Peter Andresen (Write-in) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Sam Farr incumbent	73.9%	168,907
	Republican	Jeff Taylor	25.8%	59,037
	Write-in	Peter Andresen	0.3%	682
Total Votes				228,626

2006
On November 7, 2006, Sam Farr won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Anthony De Malo (R) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Sam Farr incumbent	75.8%	120,750
	Republican	Anthony De Malo	22.6%	35,932
	N/A	Write-in	1.6%	2,611
Total Votes				159,293

2004
On November 2, 2004, Sam Farr won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Mark Risley (R), Ray Glock-Grueneich (G), Joe Williams (P&F) and Joel Smolen (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Sam Farr incumbent	66.7%	148,958
	Republican	Mark Risley	29.2%	65,117
	Green	Ray Glock-Grueneich	1.6%	3,645
	Peace and Freedom	Joe Williams	1.3%	2,823
	Libertarian	Joel Smolen	1.2%	2,607
	N/A	Write-in	0%	75
Total Votes				223,225

2002
On November 5, 2002, Sam Farr won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Clint Engler (R), Ray Glock-Grueneich (G), Jascha Lee (L) and Alan Shugart (Write-in) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Sam Farr incumbent	68.1%	101,632
	Republican	Clint Engler	27%	40,334
	Green	Ray Glock-Grueneich	3.3%	4,885
	Libertarian	Jascha Lee	1.6%	2,418
	Write-in	Alan Shugart	0%	27
Total Votes				149,296

2000
On November 7, 2000, Sam Farr won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Clint Engler (R), E. Craig Coffin (G), Rick Garrett (L), Lawrence Bruce Fenton (Reform) and Scott Hartley (Natural Law) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Sam Farr incumbent	68.6%	143,219
	Republican	Clint Engler	24.7%	51,557
	Green	E. Craig Coffin	3.9%	8,215
	Libertarian	Rick Garrett	1.2%	2,510
	Reform	Lawrence Bruce Fenton	1.1%	2,263
	Natural Law	Scott Hartley	0.5%	996
Total Votes				208,760

1998
On November 3, 1998, Sam Farr won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Bill McCampbell (R), Rick Garrett (L) and Scott Hartley (Natural Law) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 1998
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Sam Farr incumbent	64.5%	103,719
	Republican	Bill McCampbell	32.7%	52,470
	Libertarian	Rick Garrett	1.7%	2,791
	Natural Law	Scott Hartley	1.1%	1,710
Total Votes				160,690

1996
On November 5, 1996, Sam Farr won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jess Brown (R) and John Black (Natural Law) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 1996
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Sam Farr incumbent	58.9%	115,116
	Republican	Jess Brown	37.8%	73,856
	Natural Law	John Black	3.4%	6,573
Total Votes				195,545

1994
On November 8, 1994, Sam Farr won election to the United States House. He defeated Bill McCampbell (R) and E. Craig Coffin (G) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 1994
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Sam Farr	52.2%	87,222
	Republican	Bill McCampbell	44.5%	74,380
	Green	E. Craig Coffin	3.3%	5,591
Total Votes				167,193

1992
On November 3, 1992, Leon Panetta won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Bill McCampbell (R), Maureen Smith (P&F) and John Wilkes (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 1992
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Leon Panetta incumbent	72%	151,565
	Republican	Bill McCampbell	23.7%	49,947
	Peace and Freedom	Maureen Smith	2.3%	4,804
	Libertarian	John Wilkes	1.9%	4,051
Total Votes				210,367

1990
On November 6, 1990, Calvin Dooley won election to the United States House. He defeated Charles Pashayan, Jr. (R) in the general election.

U.S. House, California District 17 General Election, 1990
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Calvin Dooley	54.5%	82,611
	Republican	Charles Pashayan, Jr.	45.5%	68,848
Total Votes				151,459

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 17
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

California District 17
starting January 3, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

2010-2011

This is the 17th 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+21. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 21 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made California's 17th the 52nd 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+23. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 23 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made California's 17th the 45th 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) 72.7%-25.3%.

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+23. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 23 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made California's 17th the 47th 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 72.7% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 25.3%.

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+25. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 25 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made California's 17th Congressional District the 45th 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 0.89. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.89 points toward that party.

See also

• Redistricting in California
• California's 17th Congressional District election, 2024
• California's 17th Congressional District election, 2022
• California's 17th Congressional District election, 2020
• California's 17th Congressional District election, 2018

External links

• GovTrack District 17

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)