| A lifelong Bay Area resident and the daughter of a truck driver and a cafeteria cook and, later, a secretary. Zoe attended public schools and attended Stanford University on a California State Scholarship, graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1970. Prior to attending Stanford, Lofgren worked the night shift at the Eastman Kodak plant in Palo Alto to save money for non-tuition college expenses not covered by her scholarship. After graduating from Stanford, she attended Santa Clara University School of Law with the help of a scholarship, graduating cum laude in 1975. She served as a member of Congressman Don Edwards' staff for eight years in both his San Jose and Washington DC offices from 1970 to 1978. She practiced and taught immigration law, and was a founder and first executive director of the nonprofit Community Housing Developers. She was first elected to the San Jose Evergreen Community College Board in 1979. In 1980, she was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, where she served for 14 years. Following Congressman Don Edwards' retirement in 1994 after 32 years in Congress, Zoe was elected to the House of Representatives.
Zoe is known for her steadfast advocacy for immigrant communities and her expertise on U.S. immigration law and policy. She led Democrats on the House Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee during eight consecutive sessions of Congress. During the 116th Congress, Zoe led a group of bipartisan lawmakers in negotiations that resulted in the Farm Workforce Modernization Act - a comprehensive agricultural workforce reform bill that provides a path to legal status for an estimated 1.5 million farmworkers and improves the H-2A temporary agricultural visa program. The legislation was negotiated with input from farmers, agricultural stakeholders, labor organizations, and farmworker advocates. The sensible compromise is fully supported by the United Farmworkers of America and growers. The bill passed the House with overwhelming support in both the 116th and 117th Congresses. Zoe has consistently sought to cut through the divisive political rhetoric to advance commonsense immigration policy solutions, including efforts to address family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visa backlogs and to create a new visa program for immigrant entrepreneurs.
She is also a champion of top-to-bottom immigration reform, and her leadership includes extensive efforts during the 113th Congress as part of an eight-person bipartisan House working group and an original cosponsor and advocate for the U.S. Citizenship Act in the 117th Congress. Additionally, throughout her tenure in Congress, and especially during the Trump Administration, Zoe led colleagues in addressing a multitude of immigration-related crises, including increased instability in the Northern Triangle region, and calling out constitutional and other abuses of power, including Trump's Muslim travel ban, the Migrant Protection Protocols ("Remain in Mexico" policy), and the "Zero Tolerance" policy that resulted in the separation of children from their parents at the border. Zoe also shepherded House passage of the American Dream and Promise Act for Dreamers and TPS and DED recipients, has been a constant advocate for those requiring humanitarian protection (including by promoting TPS for Ukraine, El Salvador, Haiti, Liberia, Cameroon, and Lebanon), and has worked to improve and safeguard institutions so immigrants receive humane treatment, benefits, fairness, and due process.
Zoe is also known for her work on patent reform, copyright issues, internet privacy, digital rights, and net neutrality. She successfully fought to initiate the "e-rate" that provides affordable internet access for schools, libraries, and rural health centers, and she led a bipartisan effort in the House to decontrol encryption technology. A staunch advocate for digital rights, Zoe was the lead early opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and led a successful fight to stop the bill in the House Judiciary Committee. In 2014, Zoe successfully spearheaded a bipartisan effort to close backdoor loopholes on unwarranted government surveillance, and in early 2020, she led bicameral reform efforts to protect Americans' civil liberties during FISA reauthorization negotiations. In the 116th Congress, along with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, Zoe introduced the 132-page Online Privacy Act, sweeping legislation that creates user rights, places obligations on companies to protect users' data, establishes a new federal agency to enforce privacy protections, and strengthens enforcement of privacy law violations.
Zoe has been a longtime leader on anti-corruption, campaign finance, and pro-democracy reforms. She is a constitutional expert who is keenly focused on protecting Americans' right to vote and the country's tradition of having a peaceful transfer of power. Zoe shepherded H.R. 1, the For the People Act, through the legislative process in the 116th and 117th Congresses, culminating with its House passage twice. The sweeping package would put power back in the hands of the American people by limiting the dominance of big money in politics, making it easier - not harder - to vote, and ensuring that politicians actually serve the public interest.
In the 117th Congress, Zoe served on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, which unveiled the multifaceted effort by ex-President Trump to keep power contrary to the 2020 election results. Along with former Rep. Liz Cheney, Zoe led the House in passing the bipartisan Presidential Election Reform Act.
Zoe also served as a House Manager in the 2020 impeachment trial of Donald Trump and is the first woman in U.S. history to ever present a presidential case to the Senate. She is also the only Member of Congress to have participated in all four modern impeachment proceedings. |