Dan Lungren
 |
Dan Lungren |
Daniel Edward Lungren (born
September 22,
1946), a
Republican from
California, was elected to the
United States House of Representatives in 2004, representing the state's 3rd Congressional district (see
map), located in the suburbs of
Sacramento.
Born in
Long Beach, California of Irish and Swedish extraction, Lungren now calls
Gold River his home, although he is described in some press reports and in the official House roll as "R-
Folsom". He is married to Bobbi Lungren and has three children.
Lungren earned a
A.B. with honors in
English from the
University of Notre Dame in 1968. After graduating, he returned to California to chair "Youth for
Nixon." He began
law school at the
University of Southern California and later transferred to
Georgetown University Law Center from which he earned his
J.D. in 1971.
During law school in 1970, Lungren was a member of Saint Bernardine of Siena parish in Suitland, MD. Lungren was opposed to all abortion, and was so enthusiastic about pro-life efforts that he was placed in charge of a parish pro-life team to lobby Maryland state legislators (including then
pro-life Steny Hoyer who represented the parish) not to adopt the
American Law Institute's model law which permitted abortion when a woman's health was at risk, in cases of rape or incest, or if the fetus had a severe defect [
1]. On June 26, 1984, Lungren chose not to vote on H.AMDT.942 to H.R.5490 "An amendment to define "person" as including unborn children from the moment of conception" [
2]. Lungren now favors the so-called abortion "exceptions" of rape, incest, and life of the mother [
3].
Lungren has served once before in the House, from 1979-1989, representing California's 34th Congressional District, based in Long Beach. He was one of
Newt Gingrich's chief lieutenants during this time, and was a founding member of the
Conservative Opportunity Society. During his first tenure in Congress, Lungren was a harbinger of the "angry young man" style of conservative politics that has now become common among Republicans. He served on the
House Judiciary Committee, where his signature issue was immigration. He pushed for
sanctions against employers who hired
illegal immigrants, but has also supported limited
amnesty programs for some illegal aliens. He left the House when
California Governor George Deukmejian appointed him as California's acting
State Treasurer, but was never confirmed (see [
4]).
He was elected
California Attorney General in 1990 and served two terms in that post. In 1998 Lungren ran as the Republican candidate for
Governor of California, but was defeated by
Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis. Lungren won the support of 38.4% of the voters while Davis received 57.9% of the votes.
Lungren has said his desire to serve in
Congress was rekindled by the
September 11, 2001 attacks. He quickly won support from the Republican establishment and easily won the Republican primary. The 3rd District had been in Democratic hands for 36 years after its creation in 1963 (it was originally the 4th District from 1963-93), most notably under
Vic Fazio from 1979-99, but went to Republican
Doug Ose in 1999. It had been redrawn after the
2000 census to be much friendlier to Republicans, and Lungren easily won in November, returning to Congress after a 16-year absence.
Lungren was reappointed to the Judiciary Committee based on his previous five terms of seniority, and also serves on the
Budget and
Homeland Security committees. He has expressed an interest in becoming involved in immigration issues again.
*
Official Congressional web site*
Campaign Web site*
Dan Lungren Political History*[
5] Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
