Rep.-elect Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.-53)

Date of Birth: Feb. 1, 1989
Residence: San Diego, Calif.
Occupation: campaign policy adviser; founder of a nonprofit
Education: B.A., M.A., Columbia University
Family: single

At 31, Sara Jacobs will be the youngest member of Congress to represent California after winning the seat vacated by Democratic Rep. Susan Davis who did not seek reelection.

Despite being a newcomer to Congress, Jacobs isn’t new to politics. She has served in policy positions at the State Department during the Obama administration, UNICEF and the United Nations. Jacobs was also a policy adviser to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. Jacobs later became a candidate for California’s 49th Congressional District but lost the primary in 2018.

Jacobs founded San Diego for Every Child: The Coalition to End Child Poverty, a coalition of groups working to halve the amount of childhood poverty in San Diego by 2030.

Having both a gender-nonconforming sibling and a transgender sibling, Jacobs has made LGBT issues a central part of her campaign. She also ran on a platform of supporting affordable health care and gun reform.

— Damare Baker