Xavier Becerra

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Xavier Becerra

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 31st district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 5, 1993
Preceded by	Edward R. Roybal
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	January 26, 1958 (age 49) Sacramento, California
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Carolina Reyes
Religion	Roman Catholic

Xavier Becerra (born January 26, 1958), an American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing the 31st District of California (map), which is based in Los Angeles. He was born in Sacramento, California, earned his B.A. from Stanford University and his J.D. from Stanford Law School, and was a lawyer, a staff member for California State Senator Art Torres, Deputy Attorney-General of California, and a member of the California State Assembly before entering the House.

Becerra ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 2001. He finished with 6 percent of the vote, finishing behind Councilman Joel Wachs, former California State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, and the eventual winner, then-City Attorney James Hahn.

He is the only member of Congress from Southern California on the Committee on Ways and Means.

Rep. Becerra is a frequent guest on Kudlow & Company. He was featured on The Colbert Report's Better Know a District on August 17, 2006.

Becerra will be an assistant to the Speaker in the 110th United States Congress. He considered running for the position of Democratic Caucus Vice chairman, but deferred to the incumbent, John Larson after Rahm Emanuel chose to run for caucus chair which is the position Larson had been running for.^[1] He is also mentioned as a possible DCCC chairman. ^[2] He delivered the Democratic Response to President Bush's 2007 State of the Union Address in Spanish.^[3]

[edit] References

^ House Dems strike leadership deal (November 9, 2006).
^ Candidates for DCCC Chairmanship Campaign Quietly (December 6, 2006).
^ Rep. Becerra Responds to State of the Union Address in Spanish. Multimedia/Video. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (2007-01-23). Retrieved on 2007-01-24.

[edit] External links

U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerra official House site
Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Federal Election Commission - Xavier Becerra campaign finance reports and data
On the Issues - Xavier Becerra issue positions and quotes
OpenSecrets.org - Xavier Becerra campaign contributions
Project Vote Smart - Representative Xavier Becerra (CA) profile
SourceWatch Congresspedia - Xavier Becerra profile
Washington Post - Congress Votes Database: Xavier Becerra voting record

Preceded by Matthew G. Martinez	United States Representative for the 30th Congressional District of California 1993–2003	Succeeded by Henry Waxman
Preceded by Hilda Solis	United States Representative for the 31st Congressional District of California 2003–present	Succeeded by incumbent