California Democrats persuaded voters to let them redraw the state's congressional map so the party could potentially gain five seats in the U.S. House to counter GOP redistricting in Texas. Tuesday’s primary was poised to be the first indication of whether that will pay off.
Democrats seemed to dodge the possibility of a primary shutout in one redrawn district near San Diego, but still ran a risk of having no candidates make it to the November ballot
in a second district they banked on outside of Sacramento. California’s unusual primary system, in which the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party, means that if one party runs too many candidates, they can split the vote and all miss making it to the general election.
Democrats had feared that scenario in the San Diego-area district held by the retiring Rep. Darrell Issa that was redrawn last year to become a swing seat. Republican San Diego County supervisor, Jim Desmond, advanced to the November ballot for that seat Tuesday. An avalanche of nine Democrats also entered the running — but at least one of them seemed certain to finish in the second slot.
Former Obama administration official Ammar Campa-Najjar, San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert and investor Brandon Riker, who is financing his own campaign, are the most prominent Democrats in that race.
The situation was more dubious in suburban Sacramento, where Rep. Kevin Kiley, who left the GOP to become an independent after his conservative district was divvied up into more Democratic ones, was fighting to make the ballot along with a lone registered Republican and a host of Democrats. Only one Democrat was in the top three of the race late Tuesday.
Democrats had long worried about the possibility of a shutout in one of the redrawn districts.
“After millions of dollars and a nationwide effort to redraw these districts in response to Texas, Democrats being shut out would be a nightmare,” Campa-Najjar said.
California has been the bright spot for Democrats in a redistricting war kicked off by President Donald Trump to help his party retain control of the House. After Texas redrew its map to make as many as five more seats winnable for the GOP, California voters allowed Democrats to suspend their state’s own independent redistricting commission and create a new map in retaliation.
But when Virginia Democrats tried to replicate that, they were blocked by their state Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, letting Republicans eliminate some majority-Black congressional districts in the South.
The schism between establishment Democrats and a younger, insurgent progressive wing is a defining characteristic of many of this year's primaries across the country, and it's no different in California.
In Sacramento, city council member Mai Vang is challenging 81-year-old Rep. Doris Matsui, who succeeded her late husband after he died in 2005.
The split in the party was encapsulated at a polling place in the suburb of Elk Grove on Tuesday. Tamara Alton, a 65-year-old marriage and family therapist, said she was voting for Matsui, who seemed likely to end up in one of the top two slots as of late Tuesday.
“I’m going with who I know,” Alton said.
Democrat Khydeeja Alam, 42, a small farmer who also works for the state, said she planned to vote for Vang.
Alam, who is Muslim, said Matsui didn’t do enough to engage with Muslim Americans after the war in Gaza began.
“She’s not been accessible, which has been a really big disappointment,” Alam said.
Rep. Brad Sherman, whose Southern California district stretches from the San Fernando Valley to Malibu, made it to the November ballot while fending off a challenge by Democrat Jake Levine, a 42-year-old lawyer who argues that it is time to move on from the 15-term congressman. Republican Larry Thompson, a lawyer, also advanced to the general election for that seat.
In a redrawn district that stretches from Napa Valley into conservative Northern California farming communities, 14-term Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson drew a younger challenger, former venture capitalist Eric Jones, but advanced nonetheless.
And in a safe Democratic district in San Francisco, Scott Wiener, a state lawmaker and former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, advanced to the November race to replace retiring former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The suspense is over whether he will face Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy former technology entrepreneur who supported Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s insurgent primary in 2018, or Supervisor Connie Chan, who was endorsed by Pelosi.
California's congressional primaries also will determine the fate of Republicans targeted in the Democratic redraw.
In the Central Valley, they redrew the seat held by Republican Rep. David Valadao to make it even more Democratic. Valadao is a survivor of several targeted Democratic campaigns and one of two remaining Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He made it to the general election on Tuesday, so the primary will determine which Democrat faces him — state Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, a moderate backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or Randy Villegas, a political science professor at College of the Sequoias and a school board member who represents the party’s liberal wing.
The district was rattled Tuesday evening by an hourslong standoff in downtown Bakersfield between police and a man holding local residents inside a bank. Local officials said the main county building and its ballot drop box remained open, but Bains canceled her election night party, citing the standoff.
In Southern California, sitting Republican Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim were drawn into the same conservative district and are battling over their pro-Trump credentials. That was on the mind of Brett Christensen, a 55-year-old school safety monitor who voted for Calvert on Tuesday because he thought the congressman had been a more reliable conservative vote.
“Young Kim’s voting record has not been consistent,” Christensen said outside a polling place in the city of Orange.
Meanwhile, in the San Francisco suburbs, six Democrats and two Republicans are running for the seat formerly held by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned and ended his gubernatorial bid amid sexual harassment allegations. The top two vote-getters advance to the November ballot to fill the seat starting in 2027, while a special election will be held June 18 for the remainder of Swalwell's current term.
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This story corrects the spelling of the name of a candidate who is running in San Francisco. It is Saikat Chakrabarti, not Saikat Charkrabati.
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Sophie Austin in Elk Grove, California, and Amy Taxin in Orange contributed to this report.
