Rep. Jim Costa is promoting a Holiday Cards for Veterans program this month. It is his way of giving back to the people that sacrificed everything for our country.
Rep. Jim Costa doesn’t make headlines. He isn’t particularly well known outside of the Central Valley power base he calls home. When it comes to the agricultural issues most in the Democratic ignore he is one of our best resources. What else is Rep. Jim Costa known for? How does he vote on the issues? Come with me on a journey of discovery about this legislator.
Personal History
Rep. Jim Costa has been in politics for a very long time serving the Fresno area.
Rep. Jim Costa was born in Fresno, California on April 13, 1952. His grandparents — like many of the ruling class in the Central Valley — came from Portugal and in this case the Azores. They all found work on the many dairy farms in the Central Valley and started life not being able to read or write. His parents only spoke Portuguese until they went to school and also worked on the small dairy farms in the area. Eventually both sides of the family were able to establish their own dairy farms and a young Jim Costa would work on these farms as well.
Costa would attend a private Catholic high school in Fresno and graduate in 1970. He knew early on that life as a dairy farmer was not for him. He attended Fresno State University to get a degree in political science and even joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. While in college, he got his first taste of political life while interning in the office of Rep. B.F. Sisk. He would continue serving in various Congressional offices for another four years before running for office himself.
In 1978, Rep. Jim Costa turned his attention to an open seat in the California Assembly. With his connections to the local power players in both Congress and Sacramento he had a leg up in securing the Fresno area seat. He served in the State Assembly for 16 years and the State Senate a further 8 years before joining Congress. His signature effort was a law banning rent control in the state of California. It was good legislation at the time but it has come back to bite lawmakers in the ass given spiraling costs.
In 2004, Costa would finally make his move for Congress. He would run in the 20th district, a 63% Latino district that was the safest Democratic district in the state outside of the Bay Area/Sacramento/Los Angeles. There was a bruising primary election that year for the safe seat and that led to some bad blood. Costa would only win 53% of the vote which started a pattern of seriously underperforming in elections that continues to this day.
Issue Positions and Work in Congress
Rep. Jim Costa works quietly in the background and rarely gets much attention outside the Central Valley of California.
Rep. Jim Costa is what is known as a “Valleycrat” — or a politician from the Central Valley that is conservative on many issues but a mainstream Democrat on other issues. This is consistently shown in his ideology scores. DW Nominate gives him a -0.199 which puts him as more conservative than 95% of the Democratic caucus. Progressive Punch REALLY doesn’t like him — giving him a blended score of about 66% or a “D” score. The Central Valley doesn’t cotton to progressive thought and many Democrats in the area hold similar views.
Costa is the primary sponsor of 2 pieces of legislation that have become laws. One is the renaming of a post office and the other is a commemorative stamp. In the 119th Congress, Costa is the primary sponsor of 26 pieces of proposed legislation and has co-sponsored a whopping 346 additional pieces of legislation. As is common for those in the political center he has signed on to bills with both Democratic and Republican primary sponsors.
Rep. Jim Costa attempted to secure the leadership position on the House Agriculture Committee in the 119th Congress. Instead, his colleagues voted to promote Rep. Angie Craig for the position. He would have been a worthy choice given his knowledge of agricultural issues that Democrats frequently ignore but his conservatism probably held him back. With Rep. Angie Craig exiting the House next term because of her running for the open Senate seat, Costa will have another chance if he runs for the top spot on Agriculture again.
Water issues are esoteric and cause the eyes to glaze over for many people (me included). However, it is one of the primary concerns for Rep. Jim Costa. He was irate when the Trump regime turned the levers and wasted so much water just so Trump could say that he “brought water to southern California to fight wildfires”. He has written legislation on quite a few different water issues including preventing the turning of the levers for wasteful reasons ever again.
Another issue the Rep. Jim Costa is concerned with is immigration. Most of the farms in the Central Valley are heavily reliant on undocumented immigrants to pick our crops and tend to the animals. It truly is one of the most fertile areas of the world but without workers it lies fallow and productivity takes a hit. Immigration is one of the few issues where he is currently more liberal than many of his colleagues as a result.
Costa prefers flying under the radar and not drawing attention to himself. He is (as far as I can tell) never in the national news cycle and only sometimes appears in local news as well. He has an account on Xitter but not much of a presence on other social media. That is probably for the best as this Blue Dog Democrat is out of step on many national issues when it comes to politics. He is perfect for the Central Valley district he represents though.
CHC in the Media
Another rather quiet week for the CHC. I’m guessing this segment will become even more sparse during the holiday break.
Saturday, November 29
Rep. Adelita Grijalva will always be associated with the release of the Epstein files because of when she came to the House. She’s turning that into speaking out about sexual assault survivors.
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"I can get loud."
In the wake of the Epstein fight, Rep. Adelita Grijalva has become a voice for sexual assault survivors.
"Advocacy for people that feel like they don't have a voice has always been something that I'm very comfortable with. I think that it is our responsibility."
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— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) November 29, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Sen. Ruben Gallego joined Marc Elias and Democracy Docket to discuss the growing Latino vote and how to win it.
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🎙️NEW PODCAST EPISODE: @gallego.senate.gov joined us for an in-depth conversation on the future of American democracy, Latino political power and why Democrats win when they focus on the economy and authenticity — not manufactured political personas. https://bit.ly/43TOc9p
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— Democracy Docket (@democracydocket.com) November 29, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Sunday, November 30
Rep. Robert Garcia was profiled in the LA Times for his work on getting the Epstein files released. He’s become a scourge of the Trump regime.
Wednesday, December 3
Rep. Jimmy Gomez joined CNN to make the case for Secretary of Defense Hegseth resigning.
Rep. Robert Garcia joined the MeidasTouch interview folks to discuss the latest release of Epstein material.
He also joined Lawrence O’Donnell to explain how Oversight will work if our party regains power after the midterms.
Rep. Joaquin Castro joined BBC News to discuss the build up to war in Venezuela.
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Americans DO NOT want to go to war with Venezuela.
There are far more effective ways to stop drugs from entering the country than blowing up boats.
And after pardoning a notorious drug kingpin, how can anyone believe Trump is serious about stopping drug trafficking?
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— Joaquin Castro (@joaquincastrotx.bsky.social) December 3, 2025 at 9:53 PM
The CHC held a special order hour to expose the brutal abuses of ICE and DHS on tour communities.
Thursday, December 4
Rep. Robert Garcia went on the Jack Cocchiarella Show to discuss the fallout from the Epstein case.
Friday, December 5
Rep. Joaquin Castro went on MSNBC to discuss the illegal boat strikes and the pardons.
Rep. Mike Levin went on CNBC to discuss a proposed stock trading ban.
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Great interview with @cnbc.com @emrwilkins.bsky.social at the #CNBCFOCouncil Summit. We talked about government funding, healthcare, a congressional stock trading ban, and more. You can watch the conversation on CNBC online: www.cnbc.com/2025/12/03/c...
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— Rep. Mike Levin (@levin.house.gov) December 5, 2025 at 8:57 PM
ICE is fucking lawless. They decided to pepper spray Rep. Adelita Grijalva after she tried to get them to identify themselves.
Rep. Jim Costa, if he were more well-known, would be the kind of Democrat that many on this site would find too conservative. Without an understanding of local politics, it is easy to see why. It is important to stress the big tent of the party when considering his issue positions and votes. He is about as liberal as the Central Valley accepts in a politician and to primary him for someone more progressive runs the risk of a Republican taking charge of the district. It is better to keep legislators like Costa in the tent to help us with issues many in the party ignore than ostracize the Central Valley and watch it zoom to the right like the Rio Grande Valley has done.
The CHC Roundup is a diary series meant to highlight the contributions of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to the Democratic Party. These 43 members of Congress range from members of the Squad to the most conservative members of the party. The series will run every Saturday morning, at 8:00AM.
