Christy Smith (D) launched her campaign for the California’s 25th congressional district, setting up a rematch for one of the state’s most competitive House seats with Rep. Mike Garcia (R), The Hill reports.
Smith lost twice to Garcia in 2020 in the Los Angeles-area district – once in May to finish the term of former Rep. Katie Hill (D) and once in November for a full term.
Christy Smith (D) conceded defeat to Mike Garcia (R) this afternoon, one day after the closely watched special election runoff for the seat vacated by former Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), who resigned last year, Politico reports.
FiveThirtyEight: “On Tuesday, we’ll get a taste of whether Democrats’ electoral advantage on paper will hold up in practice, as California and Wisconsin hold special elections for two vacant congressional seats.”
“The main event is in the California 25th Congressional District, a bellwether seat in the north Los Angeles suburbs, where both parties see a chance to add to their ranks in the House. But if Democrats are also competitive in the quickly reddening, rural Wisconsin 7th Congressional District, it could signal another blue wave in the fall.”
Related: The political calendar has been updated.
President Trump claimed without evidence that Democrats are trying to rig the special election this week in California’s 25th congressional district.
Said Trump: “Governor Gavin Newsom of California won’t let restaurants, beaches and stores open, but he installs a voting booth system in a highly Democrat area (supposed to be mail in ballots only) because our great candidate, Mike Garcia, is winning by a lot. CA25 Rigged Election!”
Washington Post: “Because of the coronavirus, voters were encouraged to mail in ballots, with every voter receiving a prestamped ballot to fill out and return. But a limited number of in-person polling places were long planned to be open… A new polling place was added in recent days in Lancaster… It is not the most Democratic area in California as Trump suggests.”
“George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide who was a key figure in the FBI’s Russia probe, filed paperwork Tuesday to run for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democrat Katie Hill,” the AP reports.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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