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James Manuel "Jim" Costa (born April 13 1952) is a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of California. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in November 2004 to represent the 20th Congressional District of California. (map) The district takes in large and predominantly Latino portions of Fresno and Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley.

Born in Fresno, Costa is a third-generation family farmer. His grandparents emigrated from Portugal's Azores Islands in the early 20th century. He graduated from Fresno State in 1974. He was a state legislator for 24 years, serving in the California State Assembly from 1978 until 1991, and in the California State Senate from 1994 until 2002.

In the U.S. House election on November 2, 2004, Costa defeated Republican Party state senator Roy Ashburn. The Republicans pumped a considerable amount of money into the district, even though it was 63% Latino and gave Al Gore his highest vote total outside the state's two large conurbations, Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area in the north and Los Angeles and San Diego to the south. The campaign was fairly negative with plays on Congressman Costa's name, "Costa's going to cost ya" and linking him with former Governor Gray Davis calling them, "two taxing twins" However, in the end, Costa won by a decisive eight-point margin. Ashburn carried Kings County by a large margin, but this was only enough to hold the margin of defeat below double digits.

Costa is running unopposed for reelection in 2006.

External links

• Official Congressional web site
• Official Campaign web site
• [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/c001059/ Voting record maintained by the Washington Post]

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