Loretta Sanchez /

Loretta Sanchez (born January 7, 1960) is the U.S. Representative for California's 47th congressional district, and previously the 46th, serving since 2003. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. The district lies in central Orange County. Sanchez was born in California and graduated from Katella High School in Anaheim in 1978. She received her undergraduate degree from Chapman College in Orange in 1982, obtained her MBA from American University in Washington, DC in 1984, and was a financial analyst until entering the House. Sanchez describes herself as growing up a "shy, quiet girl" who did not speak English. She credits government with much of her success in public life. Her father was a unionized machinist and her mother worked as a secretary. Her Mexican immigrant parents had seven children, all of whom went to college. She joined the United Food and Commercial Workers when she worked as an ice cream server in high school, and she received a union scholarship to college.