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With about a month to go until ballots are sent out to millions of California voters , the Republican National Committee sent its top dog to Southern California, underscoring the importance of down ballot races in the area. California, a deep-blue state, has a Democratic supermajority in the state legislature and is a lock for a Democrat in presidential elections. However, control of the U.
S. House could hinge on how multiple congressional races in California shake out this year, in the 41st with incumbent Republican Rep. Ken Calvert and Democrat Will Rollins and in the 27th between GOP Rep.
Mike Garcia and Democrat George Whitesides. RNC Chairman Michael Whatley addresses volunteers gathered for Election Integrity Training in Buena Park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024.
The appearance was part of the Protect the Vote Tour. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) Shawn Steel, RNC National Committeeman of California, encourages volunteers to sign up to work as Orange County Registrar poll workers in Buena Park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024.
Steele was addressing those attending an Election Integrity Training session sponsored by the RNC. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) Former Acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker emphasizes a point while addressing volunteers gathered for Election Integrity Training sponsored by the RNC in Buena Park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024.
His appearance was part of the RNC’s Protect the Vote Tour. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) Volunteers listen to guest speakers from the Republican National Committee at the Election Integrity Training session in Buena Park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024.
(Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) Volunteers listen to guest speakers at the Election Integrity Training session sponsored by the RNC in Buena Park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) Shawn Steel, right, RNC national committeeman of California, welcomes RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, center, to the Election Integrity Volunteer Training in Buena Park on Thursday, Aug.
29, 2024. Former Acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is at left. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) RNC Chairman Michael Whatley addresses volunteers gathered for Election Integrity Training in Buena Park on Thursday, Aug.
29, 2024. The appearance was part of the Protect the Vote Tour. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) “We have a majority in the House that we would not have without these California seats.
California is absolutely essential,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley said. “And we look forward to expanding that majority.” National Republicans also eyeing the races in California’s 47th district between former GOP Assemblymember Scott Baugh and Democratic state Sen.
Dave Min and the 49th district between Rep. Mike Levin and Republican Matt Gunderson as prime opportunities to flip more seats to Republican control. Whatley noted that California has 12 congressional Republicans, more than the eight-seat majority Republicans hold in Congress ahead of Election Day.
“We’re not going to have a gavel without California,” he said. Whatley, who has led the RNC since March, on Thursday stopped by The Source in Buena Park, a multistory mall complex in Orange County where Rep. Michelle Steel’s campaign headquarters is located.
Steel, who represents California’s 45th congressional district, is running in a closely-watched race this election cycle against Democrat Derek Tran, a Vietnamese American candidate . CA-45, a majority-minority district home to the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam , has more registered Democrats than registered Republicans , 37.39% to 32.
99%. Nearly a quarter of registered voters in the district, 23.96%, are no party preference voters, the largest share in all six congressional districts that touch Orange County.
It’s also one of five Republican-held districts in California that President Joe Biden won in 2020. Others include California’s 13th, 22nd, 27th and 40th congressional districts. In Orange County, the 40th congressional district represented by Rep.
Young Kim, R-Anaheim , also went for Biden, as did three others in California: Reps. John Duarte, R-Modesto; Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita; and David Valadao, R-Hanford. Whatley said if 1% of registered Republicans in those five districts stay home this upcoming election, Republicans will lose.
Whatley’s recent visit to Orange County was part of the RNC’s Protect the Vote Tour that launched in June, a nationwide initiative to “recruit poll watchers, poll workers and legal experts” to mobilize for the 2024 election. The tour, according to the RNC , is meant to “champion election integrity, rally voters for (former President Donald Trump) and train volunteers to ensure it is easy to vote and hard to cheat this November. ” The choice of location signifies just how much national Republicans are paying attention to Steel’s seat.
While election analyst Cook Political Report pegs the race as “lean Republican,” Inside Elections, a newsletter that provides campaign analysis, recently changed its rating of the race from “lean Republican” to “tilt Republican.” “This is always a targeted seat and registration alone makes this a focus for us,” said California GOP chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson. Orange County was the epicenter of the GOP’s return to power in the House in 2022 , Patterson said.
She added that that started in 2020, when four California Republicans, including Kim and Steel of Orange County, won back seats Democrats flipped in 2018 . “We know that the districts here that we have in California, in particular the congressional seats, are going to matter on the national scale; that’s one of the key reasons why we’re going to be here,” Whatley said. “This is a national effort to protect the ballot, to get out the vote.
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