In 1996, Sanchez ran as a moderate Democrat in the 46th District against six-term Republican incumbent Bob Dornan. The bitterly fought race saw Sanchez charge that Dornan was out of touch with his constituency, especially after a distracting run for the 1996 Republican Presidential nomination. The 46th had always had a Democratic tilt, but became even more Democratic after the 1990 census when it received a considerably larger number of Hispanics than had previously been in the district. Sanchez won by 984 votes, and Dornan contested the election, alleging that many votes were cast by people who were not American citizens. A Congressional investigation found evidence that 624 votes were indeed cast by non-citizens. An additional 124 votes had already been thrown out by California officials. These votes were not enough to throw Sanchez’s victory into doubt, so the investigation was halted and the outcome was upheld by a Republican-controlled Congress,[26] making Sanchez the first American of Mexican heritage to represent Orange County in Congress. Dornan continues to assert that illegal voter registration of non-citizens was decisive in Sanchez’s victory. In consultation with the INS, the House committee identified as many as 4,700 questionable registration affidavits;[27] but the probe was dropped before these affidavits could be investigated. As Article I Section V of the Constitution of the United States provides that “Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members” the investigation was without binding authority.