California Democrats Flip Multiple House Seats, Adding to Nationwide ‘Blue Wave’
Even with a handful of California House races undecided Tuesday night, Democrats did not end up needing the state to retake the majority in the next Congress.
Democrats have already flipped at least three Republican-held seats in California, propelled by voter disapproval of President Donald Trump and a redistricting approved by California voters last year to add up to five Democratic seats. Nationwide, the AP called control of the House decisively for the Democrats on Tuesday night.
Under California’s new maps, the 41st Congressional District was transformed from a competitive Inland Empire seat held by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert into a safe Democrat district covering parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties. After Calvert chose to run in another district, it was easily captured Tuesday night by Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez.
In Northern California, the 1st Congressional District was redrawn to add more than 100,000 voters in reliably blue Sonoma County. There, Democratic state Sen. Mike McGuire handily defeated incumbent Republican Rep. James Gallagher.
“Folks from every corner of Northern California spoke up, turned out, and delivered an overwhelming message — they’re tired of the constant chaos and an economy that works against them,” McGuire said in a statement.
The Proposition 50 map also reshuffled district lines around Sacramento, prompting Rep. Kevin Kiley to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent in a new district. Still, Democrat Richard Pan, a physician and former state senator from the area, defeated him in the 6th District.
Another Republican incumbent, Rep. Darrell Issa, decided not to run for reelection after his 48th District seat added friendly Democratic terrain in Palm Springs and northern San Diego County.
In the race to succeed Issa, Democrat Marni von Wilpert, a San Diego City Council member, declared victory Tuesday night over Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor, although the Associated Press had yet to call the race.
“Tonight the voters of this district are sending a clear message — they’re tired of a corrupt Congress and out of control costs and ready for a representative who will fight for them,” Von Wilpert said in a statement.
The state’s most contested congressional battleground remains the Central Valley, where gains made by Republicans in 2024 in majority-Latino districts appear to have eroded in the face of voter frustration over high prices.
“Affordability is just a huge concern for people in that part of the state,” said Eric McGhee, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. “A lot of people there think that the economy is not going in the right direction.”
Those trends may have ousted Republican Rep. David Valadao, who was trailing his progressive Democratic challenger, Randy Villegas, by 30 points in the 22nd Congressional District. Although the AP did not call the race, with an estimated 45% of votes counted Tuesday night, Villegas’ campaign declared victory.
“The people of the Valley made their voices heard loud and clear: the Central Valley is not for sale,” Villegas said in a statement. “This victory belongs to the voters, hundreds of volunteers, tens of thousands of grassroots donors, and working families who believed we could build something better together.”
Heading into Election Day, the 22nd District was rated California’s only true toss-up House seat, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Although the district saw the largest pro-Trump shift between 2020 and 2024, it is home to the highest share of residents on Medicaid, the healthcare safety net program that Valadao and fellow Republicans voted to slash in a 2025 tax cut bill.
Those cross-pressures were felt across the working-class inland seats that formed California’s House battleground. The downsides of Trump’s health cuts, war in Iran and immigration enforcement seemed to be uniquely concentrated in the very areas that moved most toward the president and Republicans in 2024.
In the 13th Congressional District, which stretches from Stockton to Merced, Democratic Rep. Adam Gray was leading former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln, a Republican, by over 22 points on Tuesday night.
“Approval of Trump is very low pretty much everywhere in the state, but it’s in the low-30s range for those two competitive Central Valley districts,” said McGhee.
Republicans viewed Valadao as the California incumbent best positioned to survive a blue wave. He has lost the biennially competitive seat just once, in 2018, and maintains an independent streak — evidenced by his 2021 vote to impeach Trump.
Villegas bested an establishment-backed Democrat in the primary and ran on a promise to take on entrenched monied interests in both parties. Bucking the Central Valley archetype of moderate Democratic candidates, he rallied with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the closing weeks of the race.
Both parties poured money into the district. Democratic committees spent $18.9 million to support Villegas, while GOP groups spent $11.8 million to back Valadao — the 10th-most outside spending of any House race in the country, according to the California Target Book.
In the 13th District, Gray cut a more centrist path, touting the federal dollars he brought back to Modesto and Merced and vowing to work across the aisle with Republicans. Lincoln hammered Gray over his vote to raise the gas tax as a member of the state Assembly, but both parties pulled their television ad bookings in the final days of the campaign as the likely outcome became clear.