Dennis Alan Cardoza GOIH (born March 31, 1959) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 18th congressional district from 2003 to 2012.

He resigned from Congress effective August 15, 2012, citing family concerns as a priority, and joined the law firm Foley & Lardner LLP in a public affairs and lobbying role.

[3] When Condit's career came under a cloud because of his extramarital affair with murdered intern Chandra Levy, Cardoza ran against him in the 2002 Democratic primary and won.

This race was considered to be the only potentially competitive House contest in California; redistricting after the 2000 census gave most of the state's 53 congresspersons safe districts.

The legislature shifted a Republican-leaning portion of eastern Stanislaus County to the heavily Republican 19th District.

During the 109th Congress, Cardoza was a co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate to conservative House Democrats of which Condit was a founding member.

Media accounts suggest that Cardoza's decision to retire stemmed from the 2012 redistricting map, which put his hometown of Merced in the same district as fellow Blue Dog Jim Costa.