Lou Correa

Biography & Campaign Analysis

Background

Lou Correa was born in East Los Angeles on January 24, 1958, into a family with roots in Mexico; his paternal grandfather had come to the United States in the 1910s to work for the Southern Pacific Transportation Company.

After his mother was killed in a car accident in Mexico when he was two, Correa and his father moved to Zacatecas, and five years later to the Penguin City neighborhood of Anaheim, California. He started second grade speaking only Spanish and later became fluent in English.

Correa graduated from Anaheim High School, earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from California State University, Fullerton, and received a Juris Doctor and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Before entering politics he worked as an investment banker, a real estate broker and a college instructor.

Career

Correa's first campaign for the California State Assembly, in the 69th district in 1996, ended in a 93-vote loss to Republican incumbent Jim Morrissey, and he won the 1998 rematch 54% to 43%.

In 2004 he was elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, and in 2006 he won the 34th district seat in the California State Senate, which he held until 2014.

Correa entered the U.S. House race for the 46th district in 2016, when incumbent Loretta Sanchez ran for the U.S. Senate; he placed first in the June 7 primary with 43.7% and won the general election with 69.9% against Democrat Bao Nguyen.

In the 119th Congress, Correa sits on the Committee on Homeland Security, where he is ranking member of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, and on the Committee on the Judiciary.

In July 2024 he was named one of six Democratic members of a bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

2026 race

Lou Correa, the incumbent in California's 46th congressional district, was re-elected in 2024 with 63.4% of the vote and is seeking another term in 2026.

In the top-two primary, Correa finished first with 51.94% of the vote, and Republican David Pan, a college professor who was the district's runner-up in 2024, took second place with 32.88%, so both advanced.

Three other Democrats, Christian Mendez, Armando "Mando" Perez-Serrato and Frank Bahena, were eliminated. Correa and Pan meet in the general election on November 3, 2026.