Congressional Service
Horn first ran for Congress in 1988 in a race to succeed Republican Dan Lungren but lost the primary to conservative Dana Rohrabacher.
After the 1991 reapportionment, he wound up in the Long Beach-based 38th district then held by veteran Democratic incumbent Glenn M. Anderson. When Anderson announced his retirement in 1992, Horn jumped into the race to succeed him. He narrowly won an 8-way Republican primary before beating Anderson's stepson, then Long Beach city councilman Evan Anderson Braude, in the general election.
A moderate, Horn won his Democratic-leaning district with relative ease four more times: In 1994 he rode the Republican tide to an easy victory over a weak opponent; In 1996 his reelection was eased when he became the only Republican west of the Mississippi River to be endorsed by the Sierra Club; In 1998 he once again bested his 1994 foe; In 2000 he had his closest race, beating Democrat Gerrie Schipske by less than 1 percent.
After the 2001 reapportionment, Democrats in the California legislature eliminated his district and re-drew it with a more Democratic edge. Horn subsequently announced his retirement and did not seek reelection in 2002. He did, however, give a surprise endorsement to Democrat Hector De La Torre, who ran to succeed Horn in the re-drawn seat (now numbered 39) and finished second to Linda T. Sanchez in the Democratic primary.
In 2003, Project on Government Oversight, a government watchdog group, awarded Horn with its first ever Good Government Award for his contributions to government transparency and oversight, particularly his advocacy for public access to government information.
Read more about this topic: Steve Horn
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