California's 47th congressional district

Although the district's Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+13 suggests a fairly safe Democratic district, it is actually split between heavily Democratic portions of eastern Los Angeles County, centered around Long Beach, and Republican-leaning portions of western Orange County. However, the Los Angeles County portion has more than double the population of the Orange County portion (Long Beach alone accounts for half the population), pushing the district into the Democratic column.

After being reassigned to this district, the western Orange County cities explored a lawsuit to challenge being merged into a district which is dominated by a much larger city in a different county , however nothing came of it.

In statewide races

Election results from statewide races
Year	Office	Results
1992	President[4]	Bush 45.9% – 31.0%
	Senator[5]	Herschensohn 58.7% – 33.7%
	Senator (Special)[6]	Seymour 52.3% – 39.9%
1994	Governor[7]	Wilson 65.5% – 27.1%
	Senator[8]	Huffington 58.6% - 33.1%
1996	President[9]	Dole 54.0% - 36.2%
1998	Governor[10]	Lungren 54.0% – 43.1%
	Senator[11]	Fong 58.9% – 37.5%
2000	President[12]	Bush 57.5% – 38.8%
	Senator[13]	Campbell 52.2% – 41.2%
2002	Governor[14]	Davis 50.8% – 40.3%
2003	Recall[15][16]	Yes 61.7% – 38.3%
		Schwarzenegger 48.9% – 31.1%
2004	President[17]	Bush 50.0% – 48.6%
	Senator[18]	Boxer 57.5% – 35.4%
2006	Governor[19]	Schwarzenegger 53.6% – 40.3%
	Senator[20]	Feinstein 59.5% – 33.8%
2008	President[21]	Obama 60.1% – 37.8%
2010	Governor[22]	Brown 54.4% – 37.8%
	Senator[23]	Boxer 55.7% – 37.0%
2012	President[24]	Obama 60.0% – 37.5%
	Senator[25]	Feinstein 61.4% – 38.6%
2014	Governor[26]	Brown 56.5% – 43.5%
2016	President[27]	Clinton 62.6% – 31.0%
	Senator[28]	Harris 57.7% – 42.3%
2018	Governor[29]	Newsom 61.7% – 38.3%
	Senator[30]	Feinstein 55.3% – 44.7%
	Lieutenant Governor[31][32]	Kounalakis 54.8% – 45.2%
	Secretary of State[31][32]	Padilla 64.1% – 35.9%
	Controller[31][32]	Yee 65.1% – 34.9%
	Treasurer[31][32]	Ma 63.8% – 36.2%
	Attorney General[31][32]	Becerra 63.5% – 36.5%
	Insurance Commissioner[31][32]	Lara 54.2% – 45.8%
	Board of Equalization, 3rd District[32][lower-alpha 1]	Vazquez 67.6% – 32.4%
	Board of Equalization, 4th District[31][lower-alpha 1]	Anderson 51.5% – 48.5%
2020	President[33]	Biden 62.4% – 35.3%

From 2003 through 2013, the district consisted of many of Orange County's central suburbs, including Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana. Due to redistricting after the 2010 United States Census, the district has moved west to parts of Los Angeles County and now includes Catalina and San Clemente islands. The district also retains parts of Orange County such as Garden Grove.

California's 47th congressional district was the scene of a congressional election (won by a deceased Democratic challenger), and later a congressional special election (won by the Republican incumbent), featured in several episodes of the political drama The West Wing. However, in that context, several Orange County place names were referenced that are not within the current boundaries of the district, such as the city of Newport Beach. Many of these places are currently located in the 46th and 48th districts.

• List of United States congressional districts

• GovTrack.us: California's 47th congressional district
• RAND California Election Returns: District Definitions
• California Voter Foundation map - CD47