Like Lindsay, Panetta switched to the Democratic Party in 1971, because, he said, he thought that the Republican Party was moving away from the political center. In 1976, Panetta was elected to the U.S. Congress to represent California's then-16th congressional district, unseating incumbent Republican Burt Talcott with 53% of the vote. He would never face another contest nearly that close, and was reelected eight times. (With a few boundary adjustments, the 16th district became the 17th district after the 1990 census and is the 20th district today. It consists of all of Monterey and San Benito Counties, plus most of Santa Cruz County, including the city of Santa Cruz. At the time of Panetta's first election, it also included the northern part of San Luis Obispo County.)