Lou Correa
Bio
- The Secretary of State's certified list prints his name as Lou Correa with party preference Democratic and ballot designation United States Congressmember, listed first among the two candidates for United States Representative District 46. The Orange County Registrar of Voters proof list prints LOU CORREA, Democratic, ballot designation United States Congressmember, in the same order, with a qualified date of August 7, 2026, and records 'No Incumbent' for the contest. Ballotpedia and the Federal Election Commission both record him as the incumbent in this district.S1S3S12S24
- Ballotpedia records that he represents California's 46th Congressional District, assumed office on January 3, 2017, that his current term ends on January 3, 2027, that he has been in the position nine years, that he succeeded Loretta Sanchez and that he previously held the California State Senate District 34 seat from 2006 to 2014, a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 2004 to 2006 and the California State Assembly District 69 seat from 1998 to 2004. It lists his education as a bachelor's degree from California State University, Fullerton, and both a law degree and a graduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, his profession as business, and the base salary for the office as $174,000.S12
- His official House biography says he is a longtime Orange County resident who lives three miles from his childhood neighborhood in Anaheim, the son of working-class parents whose mother cleaned hotel rooms across from Disneyland and whose father held a manufacturing job at a paper mill, that he attended Benjamin Franklin Elementary, Fremont Junior High and Anaheim High School, graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a degree in economics and earned a Juris Doctor and a Master in Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles, and that he worked as a banker, attorney and licensed real estate broker. It says he ran for the State Assembly in 1996 and lost, won in 1998, went on to serve on the Orange County Board of Supervisors and in the State Senate, was elected to the House in 2016, and lives in Santa Ana with his wife of 27 years, Esther Correa, and their four children, and is a member of Christ Cathedral Catholic Church.S14
- In the October 2026 questionnaire he gave his age as 68, his current job title as U.S. Congressmember, his party affiliation as Democratic, checked the incumbent question yes, listed the California State Assembly, the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the California State Senate as other political positions held, said he lives in Santa Ana, and gave loucorrea.com as his campaign website. In the May 2026 questionnaire he gave the same age, listed his job title as U.S. Representative, the same three previous offices, the same city and the same website.S6S8
- The Orange County Register describes him as Rep. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, age 68, seeking his sixth term in Congress and representing a district that covers parts of Anaheim, Fullerton and Santa Ana, and records that he was first elected in 2016.S5
- His campaign home page says he proudly represents California's 46th District, that he was raised by working-class parents, that since 1998 he has focused on helping Orange County families reach the middle class, and that his experience includes the California State Assembly 69th District, the California State Senate 34th District and the Orange County Board of Supervisors 1st District. The same page describes the district in the campaign's own words as including the Orange County cities of Anaheim, Santa Ana, Orange and Garden Grove, calling it a middle-class, blue-collar community with many veterans and the largest number of Dreamers in the United States; that city list is the campaign's description and differs from the county's district files, which are described in the contest context above.S18
Record in office
- Committees and caucuses: his official House page lists the House Judiciary Committee with the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust and the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, and the House Committee on Homeland Security with the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, where it names him Ranking Member, and the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence. Among his listed caucus roles it names Senior Whip of the House Democratic Caucus, the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Blue Dog Coalition, the Equality Caucus, the New Democrat Coalition where it names him Vice Chair of the Immigration and Border Security Task Force, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and co-chair roles in the Paper and Package, Psychedelic, Vietnam, Energy Export, Real Estate, Family Business and Free Enterprise caucuses. Ballotpedia's committee assignment table for 2025-2026 lists the same two committees and the same four subcommittees.S15S12
- Key votes: Ballotpedia's tally of key votes in the 119th Congress, 2025, records him voting no on the reconciliation act H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; no on the SAVE Act, H.R. 22; no on the fiscal 2025 budget resolution H.Con.Res.14; no on H.R.5371, the continuing appropriations act that ended the government shutdown that began October 1, 2025; no on H.R.1968, the full-year continuing appropriations and extensions act; yes on the GENIUS Act, S.1582; yes on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, H.R.4405; recorded as not voting on the Laken Riley Act, S.5; no on the No Rogue Rulings Act of 2025, H.R.1526; no on H.R.875 on impaired driving as grounds for barring admission or deporting an individual residing in the United States without legal permission; and no on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, H.R. 28. Those are the roll call positions Ballotpedia records.S12
- Elections: Ballotpedia's certified results show he defeated David Pan in the November 5, 2024 general election 134,013 votes, 63.4 percent, to 77,279 votes, 36.6 percent, out of 211,292 votes cast, after both advanced from the March 5, 2024 top-two primary, where he took 46,184 votes, 60.6 percent, and Pan 30,032 votes, 39.4 percent. Its earlier results show him defeating Christopher Gonzales in November 2022 with 78,041 votes, 61.8 percent, defeating James Waters in November 2020 with 157,803 votes, 68.8 percent, defeating Russell Lambert in November 2018 with 102,278 votes, 69.1 percent, and defeating Bao Nguyen in November 2016 with 115,248 votes, or 70 percent, in the first House election for this seat after Loretta Sanchez did not seek re-election.S12S10
- Legislation announced by his office: on October 15, 2026 he and Representative Chris Smith (R-N.J.) introduced the Bright Beginnings Act, which his office says would create a federal tax credit of up to $10,000 per year for childcare centers and providers to buy equipment needed to serve children with developmental disabilities; on October 14, 2026 he and Representative Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) introduced the Silicosis Prevention and Treatment Act, which his office says would create a federal grant program for public education, prevention and treatment of silicosis; on October 13, 2026 he and Representative Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) introduced the Bankruptcy Relief for Innocent Partners Act, which his office says would keep people from being stuck with debt from fraud a partner committed alone; and on October 1, 2026 he and Representative Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) reintroduced the VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act, which his office says directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to study medical cannabis for post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. These are his office's own descriptions of the bills.S17
- Letters and federal funding: his office announced on September 25, 2026 that he sent a letter urging Governor Gavin Newsom to ensure the state accepts $10 million in federal funding for an Orange County veterans cemetery, and on September 30, 2026 that he led 56 colleagues in a letter to the Health and Human Services Secretary and the Attorney General about legal services and treatment for unaccompanied immigrant children in immigration court. The Orange County Register reports that he co-sponsored the West Coast Ocean Protection Act, which would permanently ban oil and gas exploration off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington, that the bill was introduced in April 2025 and referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources where it has since stalled, and that the registry bill he supports, which would change the date in existing law for applying for adjustment of status, has stalled in the House Judiciary Committee and has no Republican co-sponsors.S17S5
- His own account of his record: in the October 2026 questionnaire he said most of his successful legislation in this Congress has been co-authored with Republicans and named work on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder using new medicines such as psychedelics, reform of the bankruptcy code and the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Bill, which he described as Public Law 119-101 of July 2026 and as the first bipartisan legislation in decades addressing the housing supply shortage, and he said he opposes efforts to expand offshore drilling and has co-sponsored legislation to ban it off California. Those are his statements about his record, not findings by this file.S6S8
Positions
Taxes
- He says tariffs have weakened California's economy by creating uncertainty and raising prices, that putting tariffs on Canadian lumber used to build housing or on imports from allied countries is short-sighted, that moving tariffs unpredictably hurts California and national consumers, and that 40 percent of America's port trade moves through the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports. He describes the revenue side of federal policy mainly through what he would protect rather than what he would raise: he says any changes to Medicare and Medicaid should start with reversing the cuts made in the budget law he calls HR1, and Ballotpedia's key vote tally records him voting no on that law, H.R.1.S6S8S12
Housing
- He says the country has not built enough housing for decades, especially for first-time buyers, that the solution requires federal, state and local action plus a healthy private construction sector, that the federal 21st Century ROAD to Housing Bill, which he calls Public Law 119-101 of July 2026, was the first bipartisan housing supply legislation in decades, and that local control is the bigger factor because city councils decide what to build and how much and must be given incentives to build. He says he would keep 30-year mortgages available and financing affordable and would continue to oppose efforts he attributes to the administration to dismantle housing programs, and he names veterans, teachers and police officers among first-time buyers he wants those programs to serve.S6S8
Cost of living
- He says electricity is already too expensive and that policy on data centers must make sure there is no cross-subsidization by average ratepayers, that people need to be able to afford to fill their gas tanks today while the country transitions to other energy sources, and that affordability and immigration are linked because California's leading industries, including agriculture, light manufacturing, biomedical, high tech and venture capital, rely on an immigrant workforce. In the primary questionnaire he listed housing costs among the top three issues for Californians and called the cost of housing a national problem that is driving people out of California.S6S8
Public safety
- His official issues page says he has always stood by first responders and that as a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security he has worked on security at air, land and seaports and on drug detection and cybersecurity, and it names his work as Ranking Member of a Homeland Security oversight subcommittee. On surveillance, he says there is an urgent need to protect privacy, identity and personal data from collection, sharing and selling by public and private entities, that people should be able to opt out of having their information shared with private and government entities, know when their data is sold and stop it from being sold, that data collectors should need explicit authorization and express consent, and that when government has a legitimate reason to conduct surveillance on Americans it must be done with a judicial warrant.S16S6
Education
- His official issues page says he is committed to the future of the country through education, has fought for legislation to help more people go to college by increasing resources for all students, and promotes educational policies that ensure all students can reach their full academic potential. Beyond that page, the two 2026 questionnaires reviewed for this file do not include a question on schools, so they contain no position from him on K-12 funding formulas, student loans, Title I or school choice.S16S6S8
Health care
- He says the rising number of uninsured Americans and the lack of affordable care result from the administration gutting the Affordable Care Act, that any structural reforms to Medicare and Medicaid can only happen once Congress reverses the cuts in the budget package he calls HR1, and that efficiency, better coordinated medical data and preventive care are the way to a cost-effective nation. His official issues page says ensuring access to affordable and quality health care is one of his top priorities, that he opposed repealing the Affordable Care Act because he said it would have left 22 million Americans without coverage, that he has opposed deep cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, that he has supported continued funding for community health clinics and that he has called for bipartisan improvements to the Affordable Care Act. He also says there must be vigilance against fraud, waste and abuse in health programs.S5S6S16
Homelessness
- The 2026 questionnaires and the official issue pages reviewed for this file do not include a stated position from him on homelessness: his official issues page lists education, environment, healthcare, immigration, jobs and the economy, national security, public safety and law enforcement, seniors and veterans, and neither the October nor the May questionnaire asked about homelessness. The office matters to this topic because a Representative votes on federal housing, mental health and treatment funding, and this file records the absence for him rather than filling it from other sources.S16S6S8
Transportation
- He says the country needs to rebuild a cost-effective energy grid and clean water and transportation infrastructure, and federal infrastructure investment is part of how he frames rebuilding, and his official biography describes him as committed to investing in the country's fading infrastructure. His official committee page lists the California High Speed Rail Caucus among his caucuses. The materials reviewed do not include a stated position from him on the federal gas tax, transit operating funding or how transportation projects should be selected.S6S14S15
Environment and energy
- He says the country needs a smart, balanced, long-term energy policy that harnesses all options as it transitions to renewables, that people must be able to afford fuel today, and that the country should keep investing in solar, wind, geothermal and energy research. He says the threat of offshore oil spills and the threat to the future food supply make offshore drilling unwise, that he has vigorously opposed efforts he attributes to the administration to expand offshore drilling and has co-sponsored legislation to ban it permanently off California, and he ties ocean protection to seafood safety. On data centers he says he would not accept contaminated drinking water, job losses without a plan, higher electric bills or backroom deals, and that governments should not use non-disclosure agreements. His official issues page says he wants energy independence without harming the environment and that the Environmental Protection Agency should adhere to standards protecting clean air and water.S6S5S16
Immigration
- He calls immigration the single most important issue the district faces, saying most of the people being deported are hard-working taxpayers who have lived in the country for decades and are part of the workforce, that some have work permits such as Dreamers, that others are refugees whose protective status is being terminated and that some are spouses and immediate family of active duty service members. He says the economy needs immigrant workers to grow, that border security does not begin or end at the border and includes working with other nations against foreign terrorists, that more Americans have died in recent years from domestic than foreign terrorist attacks, and that the federal government should reform the registry date in existing law, which he says now lets people in the country before 1972 apply for adjustment of status, to seven years before the application and then to 2019. In the primary questionnaire he also said Homeland Security resources are now directed mainly at deportations, that he considers ICE's efforts overzealous and that its actions have resulted in deaths of American citizens and violations of constitutional rights, and his official issues page says he supports DREAMers and comprehensive immigration reform.S6S8S16
Economy and jobs
- He says California is the fourth-largest economy in the world and leads in agriculture and food production, light manufacturing, biomedical, high tech, startups and venture capital, that those industries rely on an immigrant workforce, and that the immigration crackdown is hurting the California economy from agriculture to high tech to housing construction. He says fair trade should protect American jobs while keeping prices affordable for working families, and his official issues page says the path to the middle class starts with a good job and that he has supported legislation to drive innovation and support local businesses and entrepreneurs.S6S8S16
Local services
- His office's own announcements describe services to local communities and residents: a letter urging the state to accept $10 million in federal funding for an Orange County veterans cemetery, a letter with 56 colleagues about legal services for unaccompanied children in immigration court, and district services listed on his official site including help with federal agencies, passports and immigration, seniors, veterans, students, grants, flag requests and tours. Those are the services and funding actions his office reports; this file does not include an independent audit of how much federal money reached Fullerton specifically.S17S16
Water
- He addresses water through data centers and through oceans: he says policy must assure that drinking water is not further contaminated, that the oceans will be relied on more for food and that seafood must not be contaminated, and that the threat of offshore oil spills makes drilling unwise. The materials reviewed do not include a stated position from him on water supply projects, groundwater management, drought policy or water rates, and the office matters to water indirectly because a Representative votes on federal water policy and on the federal budget that funds water programs.S6S5
Other
- On rules for officeholders and campaigns he says the public's trust requires that members of Congress be banned from trading individual stocks, with strong oversight and full public online disclosure of their financial activities, and he says there should be severe consequences for knowingly false political advertising, possibly including public and private causes of action, and a disclosure telling voters when artificial intelligence was used in a campaign, while noting that the First Amendment protects speech and that voter suppression and intimidation must be guarded against. On war powers he says Congress's role in declaring war must be restored, that Congress should be briefed immediately after any military action and should then decide whether to continue it, that mutual defense commitments such as NATO should involve Congress rather than executive orders, and that he would not vote to fund the military engagement with Iran he describes as entered into without congressional approval.S6S8
Endorsements
- Ballotpedia's endorsement list for him records the Democratic Party of California, the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, California Young Democrats, Equality California, the Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties Community Action Fund and the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter, along with three entries it labels as voting groups, Human Decency, The Dad Briefs' Kitchen Table and the sites that publish them. Ballotpedia also records that he has not completed its 2026 Candidate Connection survey, so he has no answers in that source, and that it identified no endorsements for him in the 2024 cycle.S12S10
- His campaign's own endorsements page lists Equality California, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, Orange County Fire Fighters, the Orange County Labor Federation, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the Sierra Club, and carries the note that titles are for identification purposes only. The elected leaders and community leaders categories on that page read 'To Be Announced' at the time of this run, so the campaign publishes no named local elected officials in those categories. These are the endorsements the campaign itself publishes.S19
- No endorsement from the Orange County Register editorial board in this contest was located in this run: the newspaper's 2026 congressional endorsements index lists endorsements in the 40th, 42nd and 45th districts and none in the 46th as of October 17, 2026. The same three-entry set is recorded for both candidates in this contest, and neither candidate's page in Ballotpedia records an endorsement from that board.S37S12S13
Funding
Total raised: $1,484,850 S26S28S30S31S24S38S10
Cash on hand: $2,369,844
As of: September 30, 2026
Top funders
- American Medical Association PAC $5,000 Other political committee, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 09/11/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
- American Society of Anesthesiologists PAC $5,000 Other political committee, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 09/30/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
- Amgen Inc. PAC $5,000 Other political committee, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 09/30/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
- Carpenters' Legislative Improvement Committee $5,000 Other political committee, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 08/31/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
- CHC BOLD PAC $5,000 Other political committee, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 09/12/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
- Arber Kamberi $3,500 Individual, business owner, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 07/30/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
- Kathy Kwan $3,500 Individual, retired grantmaker, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 07/31/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
- Manu Shah $3,500 Individual, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 08/19/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
- Rupesh Shah $3,500 Individual, chief executive, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 08/19/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
- Jaspreet Singh $3,500 Individual, lawyer, itemized receipt reported on the October quarterly report for 09/30/2026, a single quarter of the two-year total shown here
The figures in this funding block are the Commission's own financial summary for this committee, LOU CORREA FOR CONGRESS, Federal Election Commission committee ID C00578302, for the 2025-2026 two-year period covering January 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026: $1,484,849.78 in total receipts, $982,368.84 in total disbursements and $2,369,843.57 in cash on hand at the close of the period, with $5,000.00 in debts and obligations owed by the committee. The committee's own Form 3 for the same date, filing FEC-2024791, covering July 1 through September 30, 2026 and filed October 15, 2026, states different cycle-to-date totals on its own summary pages: $1,508,868.56 in total receipts, made up of $1,336,769.90 in contributions including $837,221.67 from other political committees and $499,548.23 from individuals, together with $18,815.92 in transfers from other authorized committees, $15,851.44 in offsets to operating expenditures and $137,431.30 in other receipts, and $1,096,751.80 in total disbursements, made up of $831,334.32 in operating expenditures, $2,071.43 in contribution refunds and $263,346.05 in other disbursements. Both sets of figures are recorded here as each source states them rather than reconciled. In the third quarter alone the committee reported $258,746.05 in receipts, $240,911.93 of it contributions, and $368,456.72 in disbursements. Ballotpedia's table computed from Commission data gives the same figures as the Commission summary for this date, $1,484,850 in receipts, $982,369 in disbursements and $2,369,844 in cash on hand as of September 30, 2026. The donor entries below are the largest itemized receipts reported on the committee's October quarterly report for July 1 through September 30, 2026, from Schedule A of that filing, five from other political committees and five from individuals out of seven individuals who each gave $3,500 in the quarter; the list is a selection of the largest receipts in that single quarter and not a ranking of all donors, and it covers that quarter only while the totals above cover the whole two-year period. Separate committees that spend for or against candidates file on different schedules and their spending is not in these totals: Ballotpedia's compilation of that satellite spending for this race lists $107,412 spent in support of this candidate and none against him, made up of $107,387 by Protect Progress, $14 by the Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties Community Action Fund PAC and $10 by Sierra Club Independent Action, and lists no satellite spending concerning either candidate by any other group.
What this could mean for your household
- Homeowners and renters: he says the country has not built enough housing for decades, especially for first-time buyers, that he would keep 30-year mortgages and financing affordable, and that he would keep opposing efforts he attributes to the administration to dismantle housing programs that serve veterans, teachers and police officers, while saying local councils make the decisions that matter most. He does not state a position in the materials reviewed on the mortgage interest deduction, federal rental assistance or federally financed social housing.S6
- W-2 earners on prices and paychecks: he says tariffs have raised prices and created uncertainty for consumers and that 40 percent of the country's port trade moves through the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports, and he lists housing costs among the top issues for Californians. He does not set out a position in the materials reviewed on income tax rates, the earned income tax credit or payroll tax levels.S6S8
- Small business owners: his official issues page says he has supported legislation to drive innovation and support local businesses and entrepreneurs and that a strong economy depends on good jobs, and he opposes tariffs he says put unpredictable costs on businesses that import, naming Canadian lumber used to build housing among them. He does not state a position in the materials reviewed on the small business tax deduction, the corporate tax rate or federal small business lending programs beyond the general support for financing he describes in housing.S16S6
- Health insurance and medical bills: he says he would reverse the cuts in the budget package he calls HR1 before making structural changes to Medicare and Medicaid, that he opposed repealing the Affordable Care Act because he said it would have left 22 million people without coverage, that he opposed deep cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, and that he would pursue efficiency, coordinated medical data and preventive care. He does not state a position in the materials reviewed on Medicare drug price negotiation or on specific premium subsidy levels.S6S16S5
- Utility bills and energy costs: he says electricity is already too expensive and that data center policy must avoid cross-subsidization by average ratepayers, that people must be able to afford fuel today while the country transitions to other energy sources, and that he has opposed expanding offshore drilling off California while supporting continued investment in solar, wind, geothermal and energy research. He does not state a position in the materials reviewed on state utility rate design or on federal subsidies for specific energy sources.S6
- Households in the district with immigrant members, including mixed status families: he says that most people being deported are working taxpayers who have been in the country for decades, that some have work permits such as Dreamers, that others are refugees whose status is being terminated, and that some are the spouses and immediate family of active duty service members, and he supports moving the registry date so people in the country longer can apply for adjustment of status. That is his stated position on the rules that determine whether household members can work and stay.S6S5
- Households concerned about privacy and data: he says people should have the right to opt out of sharing their personal information with private and government entities, to know when their data is sold and to stop it being sold, that entities profiting from personal data should have to pay for its use, that collection should require explicit authorization, and that government surveillance of Americans should require a judicial warrant.S6