GOP maintains leads despite congressional redistricting

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

Republican candidates in congressional races throughout California’s redrawn districts still maintain razor-thin margins with all precincts partially reporting on Wednesday afternoon.

Several Republican incumbents maintained clear leads in districts drawn to disadvantage them through the passage of Proposition 50. However, many Californians vote by mail, and ballots postmarked on or before Election Day have one more week to arrive.

Here is an update on the results out of the districts affected by Proposition 50, the state’s congressional redistricting measure, in Tuesday’s primary.

District 22

Rep. David Valadao, R-California, maintained his lead in the Central Valley district and is projected to proceed toward the general election on Nov. 3, with 44.5% of the vote on Wednesday afternoon.

Progressive Democratic candidate Randy Villegas, with 29.8% of the vote, barely held onto the lead over Jasmeet Bains, a Democrat and physician with 25.7% of votes, according to the California Secretary of State’s office. They are continuing to compete against each other to see who will challenge Valadao in November.

Valadao and Villegas did not respond to The Center Square’s request for interviews.

District 40

Republican incumbent Rep. Ken Calvert was projected to move forward in the general election for a seat in the state’s redrawn District 40. He could face off against fellow incumbent Republican Young Kim, who had 21.6% of the vote on Wednesday afternoon.

Calvert, who led the race with 36.2% of the vote, celebrated his projected win in a social media post Tuesday night. He highlighted his campaign’s grassroots efforts to drum up support in the redrawn district.

“Voters want an effective and consistent conservative who has been with President Trump from Day One,” Calvert wrote. “I look forward to winning this race in November!”

Calvert’s competitor is yet to be determined in the district. Esther Kim-Varet, a Democrat, was the closest candidate to Kim with 15.5% of the vote on Tuesday afternoon, but so far, Kim is ahead in the race to challenge Calvert. If that remains true, Democrats will be shut out of the general election despite a redistricting effort intended to pick up Democratic seats.

Nubia Diaz, Kim-Varet’s campaign manager, described the margin between Kim-Varet and Kim as a historical moment for the traditionally Republican-led congressional district. However, she called on other Democrats in the race to support Kim-Varet’s nomination in order to drum up support for Democrats.

“This seat is still Republican because people do not want to come together and look at the bigger picture,” Diaz told The Center Square. “They just want to do a popularity contest instead of trying to save our democracy here.”

Five Democrats ran in the 40th district, including Kim-Varet. Lisa Ramirez, an immigration attorney, held 13.3% of the vote, slightly trailing Kim-Varet’s lead among Democrats.

“We need to stop splitting the votes because we need to look at the bigger picture,” Diaz said. “We need to flip the seats.”

District 41

Republican Mitch Clemmons, a plumbing contractor, is projected to advance toward the general election in California’s 41st congressional district with 40.8% of the vote.

Clemmons did not respond to The Center Square’s requests for an interview.

Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-California, trailed Clemmons with 35.8% of the vote on Wednesday afternoon, but was still projected to head into a faceoff with him in November. Sanchez was moved from the 38th to the 41st congressional district after passage of Proposition 50.

“I’m grateful voters trusted me to be their Democratic nominee to continue taking on Trump and the corrupt MAGA agenda,” Sanchez wrote. “We will win in November, we will flip the House and we will get this country back on track.”

District 45

A challenger to incumbent Rep. Derek Tran, D-California, has yet to be determined in California’s 45th congressional district, as of Wednesday afternoon. Chuong Vo, former Cerritos mayor, held 16.3% of the vote, a majority among Republicans in the district. Tran had 49.7%.

Tran and Vo did not respond to The Center Square’s requests for comment on the status of the race. Tran celebrated his projected victory in the primary on social media Tuesday night.

“This moment isn’t about Democrats vs. Republicans,” Tran said. “It’s about fighting for the notion that if you work hard and follow the rules, you should be able to get ahead no matter what neighborhood you come from.”

For updated election results, stay tuned to thecentersquare.com/california.