The District
California's 27th Congressional District

Home of the Rose Bowl, the California Institute of Technology and the Disney Company headquarters, California's 27th congressional district encompasses several major suburbs northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the foothills of the Verdugo and San Gabriel Mountains. The district includes the affluent communities of Pasadena, Burbank and Glendale. The area's traditionally Republican tendencies have begun to weaken as immigration alters the district's demographics.

Shortly after a railway connected Pasadena to Los Angeles in 1885, migration from the city to the foothill communities took off. Wealthy Los Angelenos settled in the area and minorities followed the railroad work and service jobs in hotels and grand homes. Institutions like Lockheed Aircraft, Cal Tech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab helped build the communities of the 27th district, and today, in addition to defense and high-tech, entertainment is a major industry. Disney, NBC, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks Animation and smaller multimedia companies all provide local jobs. The economy is thriving in Glendale and Burbank where a business-friendly environment and lower taxes contrast with Los Angeles' higher taxes and regulation.

The district has strong conservative roots. Current Republican Representative Jim Rogan won the district seat in 1996, taking over for retiring 12-term Republican Carlos J. Moorhead. But a shift to the left, evidenced in part by pluralities for Bill Clinton in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections, has paralleled recent demographic changes. Once thought of as a land of white conservatism, the district is now nearly 40 percent minority. The black populations in Pasadena and Altadena are growing, and the nation's largest Armenian community is in Glendale, where Iranians, Koreans and Filipinos help comprise a population that is almost half foreign-born. Redistricting in 2001 may pull in more Latinos who currently make up 20 percent of the district's population, but constitute only eight percent of registered voters.

Official political affiliation has also shifted since Rogan took the congressional seat in 1996. Then, 43 percent of the district was registered Republican and 44 percent Democratic. Today GOP registration has dropped to 37 percent. Democratic registration is unchanged. The campaigns of Rogan and Democratic challenger Adam Schiff reflect the constituency changes and the local industries. Rogan says he is spending more time with the minority communities; Schiff is targeting young, "wired" workers.