LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two threatened House Republicans in California won Monday over a Democratic challenger, giving Republicans control of the House during a series of congressional elections in the state. It helped me move into the seat.
A fierce battle raged southeast of Los Angeles, with Republican Rep. Michelle Steele defeating Democrat Jay Chen. The district was specially selected to give Asian Americans, who make up the largest group in the district, a stronger voice in the Capitol. This includes the largest Vietnamese community in the country.
East of Los Angeles, Republican Rep. Ken Calvert defeated Democrat Will Rollins. With his 80% of the vote, Calvert was the longest-serving Republican on the California legislative delegation, and he led by nearly 5,500 votes in the contest.
Ten races in the state remained undecided as votes continued to be counted, but only a handful were deemed tight enough to break either way.
It takes 218 seats to control the House of Representatives. So far, Republicans have secured her 217 seats and Democrats her 205.
Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield is set to replace House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco if Democrats fail to defend a fragile majority.
In District 45, anchored in Orange County, Steele, a South Korean immigrant seeking a second term in Congress, confronts Chen, the son of a Taiwanese immigrant and a naval reserve. This race was watched nationwide for what it had to say about the tastes of the Asian community.
Candidates initially committed inflation and hate crimes against key Asian-American issues. But the race took an ugly turn, mostly focused on accusations and accusations.
Chen’s ad portrayed Steele as an extremist threatening abortion rights, but after Chen told supporters they needed an “interpreter” to understand Steele’s remarks, Republicans said Chen ” accusing her of being “racist”, and claimed Chen was making fun of her accented English. Chen said he was referring to “complicated issues” that Steele uses to get around problems.
Steele also distributed leaflets depicting Cheng as a communist supporter, although Cheng said his grandmother had fled China to escape communist rule.
In California, the House’s main battlefields are Orange County (a suburban sprawl southeast of Los Angeles, once a stronghold of the Republican Party that has become increasingly diversified and democratic) and the United States for agricultural production. The inland Central Valley, sometimes called the salad bowl of the country. .
The hottest remaining competition in the state occurred in the Central Valley, where Republican John Duarte led by 84 votes for the vacant seat in the 13th District, before Democrat Adam Gray took a narrow lead. Did.
Underscoring the rigors of the contest, Gray’s campaign formed a committee to initiate a fundraiser to fund a possible recount. These costs paid to county elections officials are the responsibility of the campaign committee or voter requesting a recount. Normally, such requests cannot be made until one month after her election.
The latest returns show Gray leading by 761 votes, with nearly 80% of the votes tallied.
In Orange County, one of the state’s marquee races tightened when the latest poll results showed Republican Scott Boe cutting a narrow lead over Democratic Rep. Katie Porter in half. Porter, the party’s progressive star, leads former Rep. Beau with about 2,900 votes (or just over a percentage point), with his nearly 80% of the votes counted.
In another hotly contested district north of Los Angeles, Republican Rep. Mike Garcia defeated Democrat Christy Smith in a row three times, with Garcia winning the first two.
The most recent return, which tallied about two-thirds of the votes, was 54.4% for Garcia and 45.6% for Smith.
In a statement on Twitter, Smith said his chances of winning the seat had “narrowed significantly” and that “Garcia will likely retain the seat.”
Democrats also had large margins in several districts, including the Central Valley’s 9th District, where Democrat Rep. Josh Harder led Republican Tom Patty by nearly 13 points.
In Central Valley’s 22nd District, where about half the votes were counted, Republican Rep. David Baradao, who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump, led Democrat Rudy Salas by five points.
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