The Associated Press awarded Democrats the House on Nov. 3. In California, the party has been declared the winner in five seats Republicans held, while unofficial returns in the 23rd District remained uncalled.
California voters have handed Democrats five U.S. House seats that Republicans held at the start of this Congress, according to Associated Press race calls reported by KQED, CBS News and CalMatters. The pickups came under district lines that voters approved last year in Proposition 50, and they will enlarge an already Democratic delegation when the new Congress convenes in January.
Nationwide, the Associated Press awarded Democrats control of the House on the night of Nov. 3, before many of California’s contests had been settled. KQED noted that the party did not need the state’s pickups to take the majority. The five California seats called for Democrats are the 1st, 6th, 22nd, 41st and 48th Districts.
Five seats that changed hands
In the redrawn 1st District, Democratic state Sen. Mike McGuire, the Senate president pro tempore from Healdsburg, defeated Republican Rep. James Gallagher of Yuba City. The new map added more than 100,000 voters in Sonoma County and removed more conservative territory, including Redding, KQED and North State Public Radio reported. Mr. Gallagher had won the seat in a special election in June after the death of Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa.
“Folks from every corner of Northern California spoke up, turned out, and delivered an overwhelming message — they’re tired of the constant chaos and an economy that works against them,” Mr. McGuire said in a statement quoted by KQED.
Mr. Gallagher, speaking with North State Public Radio on election night, said the new lines had cost the North State a representative who lives there. “It’ll be the first time that someone who doesn’t actually live here and know these communities will be our representative,” he said, “and I think that in itself just shows how unjust it really is.” He said Mr. McGuire would be representing “two very different worlds,” and that the district’s remaining inland communities are “very, very different from Sonoma County.”
In the 6th District, Democrat Richard Pan, a physician and former state senator, defeated Rep. Kevin Kiley, who left the Republican Party in March and ran as an independent after Proposition 50 broke apart the 3rd District he represented. CapRadio reported that Mr. Kiley conceded on election night and told supporters in Roseville that “the headwinds in this election year were just too strong to overcome.” He stood by leaving the party, saying it “might not have been the most politically advantageous thing, but my goal has never been just to hold an office.” CBS News noted that he had continued to caucus with Republicans.
The Central Valley’s 22nd District, rated the state’s only true toss-up by the Cook Political Report heading into Election Day, went to Democrat Randy Villegas over Republican Rep. David Valadao. The Associated Press called the race Wednesday, CalMatters reported, with Mr. Villegas winning by a wide margin. Democratic committees spent $18.9 million to support him and Republican groups spent $11.8 million to back Mr. Valadao, the 10th-highest outside spending of any House race in the country, according to the California Target Book as reported by KQED. “The people of the Valley made their voices heard loud and clear: the Central Valley is not for sale,” Mr. Villegas said in a statement quoted by KQED. Mr. Valadao, who lost the seat once before, in 2018, and who voted to impeach President Trump in 2021, had been viewed by Republicans as their California incumbent best positioned to survive a Democratic wave, KQED reported.
In the 41st District, Democratic Rep. Linda Sánchez won a seat that Proposition 50 shifted from a competitive Inland Empire constituency held by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert into a heavily Democratic district covering parts of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Mr. Calvert chose to run elsewhere; Ms. Sánchez defeated Republican Mitch Clemmons, CBS News reported.
In the 48th District, Democrat Marni von Wilpert, a San Diego city council member, defeated Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor, for the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who declined to seek re-election after the district added Democratic-leaning areas. “Tonight the voters of this district are sending a clear message — they’re tired of a corrupt Congress and out of control costs and ready for a representative who will fight for them,” Ms. von Wilpert said in a statement quoted by KQED.
The race still being counted
The only Democrat-versus-Republican California House contest that remained uncalled as of KQED’s Nov. 5 account was the Inland Empire’s 23rd District, which Cook had rated as safely Republican and which Proposition 50 shifted in a more Republican direction. Unofficial returns compiled on Nov. 7 showed Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte with 98,122 votes (51.4 percent) and Democrat Tessa Lynn Hodge with 92,677 (48.6 percent). The Associated Press had not called the race as of the latest reporting the Inquirer could confirm. This article does not treat the seat as decided.
What the delegation will look like in January
California sends 52 members to the House. The delegation entered this Congress with 43 Democrats and nine Republicans. Five Republican-held seats have now been called for Democrats, which would leave 48 Democrats and four Republicans if Mr. Obernolte holds the 23rd District, or 49 Democrats and three Republicans if Ms. Hodge prevails, provided no other called race is reversed as remaining ballots are counted.
The change in party control will also reshuffle committee gavels that matter to California. Rep. Jared Huffman of San Rafael, an environmental lawyer who has represented the 2nd District since 2013, is in line to become chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Inside Climate News and the public-radio program Living on Earth reported on Nov. 7, describing him as the incoming chair. In that interview, Mr. Huffman said the committee would pursue oversight of the Trump administration and “an affirmative policy agenda,” including a permitting-reform bill “on our terms.”
That means more floor votes for California Democrats and, through members like Mr. Huffman, more control of the committees that write public-lands, water and energy policy. Republicans who remain will be a smaller minority in a delegation that was already lopsided, and in a House their party no longer controls. The results are unofficial until the secretary of state certifies them. Counties are still counting remaining ballots.
Adaeze Monroe covers Congress, the White House and federal agencies, with a focus on what Washington’s decisions mean for California, for the Washington Bureau. More from Adaeze Monroe
