Condit was elected to Congress in 1989 in a special election after the resignation of House Democratic Whip Tony Coelho. He was elected to a full term in 1990, and reelected five more times without serious difficulty (Condit had no Republican challenger during the general elections of 1992 and 1998). His most important committee assignment was as a senior member on the House Intelligence Committee in the months and years prior to the September 11 attacks. Like most Democrats from the Central Valley, Condit was somewhat more conservative than other Democrats from California. Being a Blue Dog Democrat, Condit voted against President Bill Clinton more frequently than other members of his party in the chamber. Condit opposed NAFTA despite intense lobbying from his own district’s wine industry and President Clinton himself, voted against the landmark repeal of Glass-Steagall protections, and against the Iraq War and intervention in Kosovo. In the aftermath of Kosovo, Condit was a persistent force in compelling the prosecution of Slobodan Miloševic.