On the recordOctober 21, 2015
I thank Ms. Lofgren for yielding, the chair of our wonderful California delegation, the largest Democratic delegation in Congress. When I arrived in Congress in a special election in 1993, Don Edwards was the dean, the chair of the Democratic delegation, the same delegation that his former employee, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, now holds. He was the father figure for all of us from California, and I think of this entire Congress when you look at his remarkable record. It is ironic that Don Edwards grew up in a Republican family in the Stanford area in Santa Clara Valley, attended Stanford University, was captain of the golf team, did very well in golf, and so much so that the district that I represent every year hosts what was formerly known as the Bing Crosby Clambake, now the AT&T Pro-Am Golf Tournament. And Don Edwards told me that he carried his pro, he got a better score than his pro, and they won the tournament the first Clambake at Pebble Beach. He soon became president of the Young Republicans. He quickly thereafter left the Young Republicans and became a very, very liberal Democrat. I asked him once as he retired, as Congresswoman Lofgren said, to Carmel, California--he retired to a home right next to the home that I grew up in and my sister still lives in, so we had many, many nights with him and Edie discussing politics, and I once asked him: What made you become a Democrat?…
