For all their complaints about big money in politics, Democrats sure are good at raising and spending it. A staggering amount of money was spent on the congressional races all along the West Coast, Messed Coast™, but no more than by California politicos. Whoo boy.
We've been watching key congressional matchups in the Golden State, Oregon, and Washington.
Here we go.
California Senate: Miss
Ugh. Adam Schiff is a loathsome House member. He should have been tossed out of Congress for leaking false information from the House Intelligence Committee and filling reporters' ears with lies about Donald Trump being a Russian spy. Schiff made all that lying look so easy.
Alas, as expected, he defeated Republican Steve Garvey in the senatorial seat left open following Dianne Feinstein's death. Garvey made a better showing in California than Trump.
The Los Angeles Times:
“If this were the 2000 Senate race, then the competitive nature of California’s politics and Garvey’s relatively recent sports successes might have made him a very competitive candidate,” said Dan Schnur, a professor of political communication at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine. “But given how the state has changed, and how many years have passed, it became almost an impossible uphill climb for him.”
California can't remain a beautiful gulag for much longer.
Schiff was given so much money that he was giving it away to other candidates. He spent $58,000,000.
- 57.5% Schiff
- 41.6% Garvey
- 40.1% Trump
California 22nd District: Hit
Incumbent Republican David Valadao, a dairy farmer, held on to the seat he was first elected to in 2012. His opponent, college instructor Rudy Salas, has tried knocking off Valadao two cycles in a row. The Democrats want this Central Valley seat to continue consolidating power in the more conservative areas of the state.
Both candidates spent more than $10 million total in pursuit of this job. Salas outspent the incumbent by more than a million dollars.
- 55% Valadao
- 45% Salas
California 27th District: Hit
Republican Mike Garcia was outspent nearly two to one in the seat he won in the special election in 2020 after Katie Hill's triple arrangement was exposed. But Garcia held on to keep George Whitesides, the former NASA chief during the Obama administration, at bay.
While all of the financial reporting isn't in yet, the two spent more than $15,000,000 on this race, with Whitesides outspending the incumbent nearly two to one.
- 51.2% Garcia
- 48.8% Whitesides
California 41st District: Hit
This is a race in which every vote counted. Republican Ken Calvert held on by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin to stay in office and give the GOP the majority. This Inland Empire seat may be more difficult to hold in the future. Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, came close to grabbing it this time for all sorts of political reasons.
The Democrats wanted this seat badly, so much so that more than $12 million was spent to buy it. That doesn't include outside money. This is for a House seat that pays $174,000 a year. Maybe they like it for the insider trading tips they get.
- 50.5% Calvert
- 45.5% Rollins
California 45th District: Hit
Republican Michelle Steel lives! The conservative stalwart, a Korean-American from Orange County, which is an important data point for this story, was tested by Vietnamese-American Derek Tran in the district that features Little Saigon and a huge population of people whose forbears came from Vietnam.
Trans was up by two before the election, and when it came down to it, the savvy Steel pulled it out. Amen and amen.
- 52.5% Steel
- 47.5% Tran
California 47th District: Hit
Scott Baugh pulled off a win in this changing area of Orange County that is growing more and more blue. But the stalwarts of Huntington Beach and the Orange County GOP pulled out all the stops to get this win.
Katie Porter, whom Adam Schiff ousted in the Senate primary, once occupied this seat.
As I wrote in my preview of this race:
The Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, and Costa Mesa areas are traditional GOP strongholds in old Orange County. That's where Republican Scott Baugh's base of support lies. Dave Min, a flawed, woke, pro-criminal candidate, claims Irvine as his. Despite being outspent by Min, Baugh Cal Matters and Five Thirty-Eight have Baugh with a three-point lead.
The current voter registration makeup of the district is 35.0% Democratic, 35.0% Republican, and 23.7% no party preference. Those are good numbers for Republicans, who have since 2020 reestablished themselves as the number two party in the state (independents and refused-to-state used to outnumber the GOP).
- 50.6% Baugh
- 49.4% Min
BONUS HIT
Darrell Issa showed how savvy he was when he retired from his coastal congressional seat, moved into a conservative part of San Diego County a few years back, and ran for Congress for Duncan D. Hunter's old seat. He defeated his Democrat opponent by a 60-40 margin.
Stephen Houlahan was this year's losing Democrat in this reliably Republican (for now anyway) seat.
He was never in trouble in this race, but the boss likes this race so I included it.
- 60.2% Issa
- 39.8% Houlahan
Washington 3rd District: Miss
This seat was a hold for Democrats, but Republican Joe Kent won five out of seven counties in this Southwestern Washington State congressional district. Topline: The Democrat Antifa adjacent nutter defeated the Green Beret. It shows you how completely lost voters are in the population center of this District.
This one hurts. pic.twitter.com/eQXhN6sBit
— Victoria Taft, The Adult in the Room, FITF Squad (@VictoriaTaft) November 6, 2024
Clark County, the district's population center, has taken its cues from Oregon's crazy Multnomah County just across the river.
Kent is talented and can do anything he puts his mind to. Maybe he'll run again. He left everything out there this time around.
- 51.78% Perez
- 47.84% Kent
Oregon 5th District: Miss
The Democrats picked up this seat after pouring outside money into this exurban Portland district.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson came to the district to rouse the troops for both Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Joe Kent.
Despite Johnson showing the party colors and spreading some money around, Democrats outspent the R's in this race.
Independents and Libertarian contestants likely shaved points away from Chavez-DeRemer in this squeaker.
Squeaker. pic.twitter.com/XeofQIr9YZ
— Victoria Taft, The Adult in the Room, FITF Squad (@VictoriaTaft) November 6, 2024
- 47.66% Bynum
- 45.39% Chavez-DeRemer
When it was all over, Republicans still held onto the House, but these two losses in Oregon and Washington hurt.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member