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Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:28 PM ET
Democratic · 3 November 2026
Linda Sánchez
U.S. Representative for California's 38th congressional district (since 2013)
Linda Sánchez, a Democrat who has served in the U.S. House since 2003 and represents California's 38th congressional district, faces Republican plumbing contractor Mitch Clemmons for California's 41st congressional district in 2026.
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Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Linda Sánchez.
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Recent media coverage for Linda Sánchez.
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Races in redrawn districts could determine control of House | California
Calvert received$799,000 from the Calvert Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee to support the incumbent Congressman. He also received more than $138,000 from Grow the Majority and $32,000 from Flexpoint Media.
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- Born
- January 28, 1969
- Birthplace
- Orange, California
- Education
- Valencia High School
University of California, Berkeley (Bachelor of Arts in Spanish literature)
UCLA School of Law (Juris Doctor, 1995)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Linda Sánchez was born on January 28, 1969, in Orange, California, and grew up with six siblings in Anaheim, raised by Mexican immigrant parents.
She attended Valencia High School, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish literature with an emphasis in bilingual education at the University of California, Berkeley, and received her Juris Doctor in 1995 from the UCLA School of Law, where she was an editor of the Chicano-Latino Law Review.
She then worked as an attorney specializing in labor law, joined International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 441 in 1998 as a compliance officer, and from 2000 to 2002 was executive secretary and treasurer of the Orange County branch of the AFL-CIO.
She is the younger sister of former U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez.
Career
Linda Sánchez entered Congress through the 2002 election in what was then the 39th district, after five-term Republican Steve Horn retired. She won a six-person Democratic primary with 33.5% of the vote, ahead of Hector de la Torre at 29.3%, and defeated Republican Tim Escobar 54.9% to 40.8%, becoming the first woman IBEW member elected to Congress. After the 2010 census her district was renumbered the 38th, which she has represented since 2013.
In 2005 Sánchez was appointed Assistant Minority Whip. She chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the 114th Congress, and in 2016 her colleagues elected her vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus for the 115th Congress, making her the first woman of color elected to a leadership position in the history of the U.S. Congress. For the 119th Congress she serves on the Committee on Ways and Means, where she is ranking member of the Subcommittee on Trade.
2026 race
Linda Sánchez filed to run in California's 41st congressional district for 2026 and is the Democratic incumbent in that race, having been re-elected with 59.8% of the vote in 2024.
In the top-two primary she finished first with 37.51% of the vote, while Republican Mitch Clemmons, a plumbing contractor and runner-up for California's 30th senatorial district in 2022, placed second with 35.77%.
Two other Democrats were eliminated: former state assemblymember Hector De La Torre, her runner-up in the 2002 primary, with 13.87%, and criminal justice advocate Shonique Williams with 12.85%. Sánchez and Clemmons face each other in the general election on November 3, 2026.