GOP leads in 6 of 7 California districts it lost in 2018

by WorldTribune Staff, March 5, 2020

California could turn out to be a major key if Republicans are to re-gain control of the House of Representatives in the 2020 election.

To win back the House, Republicans need a net gain of 18 seats in the November elections.

House of Representatives chamber. / Public Domain

Returns from Super Tuesday showed GOP candidates leading in six of the seven California congressional districts they lost to Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections.

The overall combined vote for Republican candidates reached a majority in those six districts, and Republican candidates led in two of them, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The districts were targeted by Democrats in 2018 because they had voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 even while re-electing Republicans to Congress.

In one of the districts, the 21st, Republican former congressman David Valadao won a majority of the votes cast on Tuesday, far ahead of incumbent Democrat Rep. T.J. Cox.

The Associated Press noted: “Early returns showed some GOP successes in Orange County, where Republican Young Kim was the top vote-getter, setting up a rematch with Democratic U.S. Rep. Gil Cisneros.”

“But two words of caution are in order,” Breitbart News’s Joel B. Pollak noted on March 5. “First, California takes a long time to count votes, because ballots submitted by mail on Election Day are still included.

“Second, Democrats typically do not ramp up their turnout machine until the general election. In 2018, many Republicans had high hopes after the June primary election — only to find they had lost their seats once Democrats used new and controversial methods, such as ‘ballot harvesting,’ dumping hundreds of late ballots on Election Day.”

Meanwhile, Republicans are also looking to make gains in Texas, The Federalist’s Tristan Justice noted in a March 4 analysis:

In Houston-area 7th district, conservative African-American Army veteran Wesley Hunt captured the nomination to challenge incumbent freshman Democratic Rep. Lizzie Fletcher who flipped the seat just two years earlier. Both the Cook Political Report and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball rank the seat as “leaning Democratic,” making for a competitive race this fall with Hunt’s nomination to reclaim the seat.

Over in the state’s Dallas-area 32nd district, Republican voters nominated local business executive Genevieve Collins to face another freshman Democratic incumbent, Rep. Colin Allred. Sabato’s Crystal Ball lists the seat as “likely Democratic,” but the Cook Political Report identifies it as merely leaning Democratic.

In Texas’ 24th district, also located in Dallas, Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne became another woman to join the GOP candidate ranks capturing the nomination to compete for an open seat rated as a toss-up being vacated by Republican Congressman Kenny Marchant. Van Duyne won the contest with more than 64 percent of the vote.

Further east in North Carolina, real estate agent Lynda Bennet will move into a May runoff election to face small businessman Madison Cawthorn. The winner will proceed to the November general in a bid to replace retiring chairman of the House Freedom Caucus Mark Meadows who has endorsed Bennet in the state’s reliably Republican 11th district.

Tuesday’s results give Republicans reason to be optimistic about their lineup of candidates in position to take back the House in November.


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