State Senator Adam Schiff
Democratic Opponent: California's 27th Congressional District

California State Senator Adam Schiff is challenging Republican incumbent Jim Rogan for the congressional seat from California's 27th district. A Democrat from Burbank, Schiff ran unopposed in the March primary, an open format election in which he outpolled Rogan 49 to 47 percent.

Schiff was elected to the State Senate in 1996 and at 36 became the youngest member of California's upper house. He chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Juvenile Justice Select Committee and the Joint Committee on the Arts. Schiff also sits on the insurance and budget committees. His senate district northeast of Los Angeles includes the entire 27th congressional district.

In office and on the campaign trail Schiff has been a solid Democrat, supporting a prescription drug benefit addition to Medicare, gun control and funding for mass transit in the Los Angeles area. He opposes partially privatizing Social Security investments, a proposal Rep. Rogan supports.

A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, Schiff was a criminal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office for six years prior to his election to the senate. As a federal prosecutor, Schiff earned a Special Achievement Award from the Department of Justice in 1993 for Sustained Superior Performance on Duty, and in 1992 he helped the Czechoslovakian government implement judicial reforms. Schiff had a 100 percent conviction record on arson, political corruption, drug trafficking, illegal immigrant smuggling and toxic dumping cases. He also successfully prosecuted the case of Richard Miller, a former FBI agent who spied for the Soviet Union.

Schiff has actually faced Rogan in an election before. In 1994 they vied for a seat in the California State Assembly. Rogan defeated Schiff in both a special election to fill the seat and later in the general election, winning by 27 and 11 point margins.

Demographic trends appear to favor Schiff this time around, as an influx of immigrants erodes the 27th district's white conservative reputation. Schiff recently won the endorsement of the Armenian National Committee, the nation's largest organization of ethnic Armenians, who make up roughly 10 percent of the 27th district's voters.

Schiff, 40, was born outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Eve, have a 2-year-old daughter.