Democrats Locked OUT Of House Race in California as Two GOP Candidates Advance

Democrats have just been effectively been locked out of the congressional race for California’s 40th District.

After multiple days of ballot counting, GOP Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim are projected to advance to a runoff this November.

This pretty much guarantees a safe seat for Republicans.

Here are the details:

🚨 PROJECTION 🚨

Incumbent representatives Ken Calvert (R) and Young Kim (R) advance to general election runoff in California’s 40th Congressional District, defeating Esther Kim-Varet (D), Lisa Ramirez (D), and Joe Kerr (D) among others.

This will be an R vs R runoff. pic.twitter.com/aGU91wHVeR

— Real Texan Politics ✝️🇺🇸 (@RealTXPolitics) June 7, 2026

🚨 IT'S OFFICIAL: Democrats just got *LOCKED OUT* of the California 40th Congressional District, both Republicans have advanced to the general after Gavin Newsom's redraw

Meaning zero resources must now be spent on defending the seat this November 👏🏻

House control could run… pic.twitter.com/adBbXZIQQ3

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 7, 2026

Earlier this year, Proposition 50 re-drew districts in California.

Formerly, Calvert and Kim were representatives of separate districts. But, Gov. Newsom’s gerrymandering maneuver combined parts of their districts into one.

Now, Calvert and Kim will go head-to-head in November to determine who gets to keep a seat in the House.

The Hill reported further:

Kim now represents California’s 40th Congressional District, and Calvert the 41st Congressional District. But last year’s Democratic-led redistricting in the Golden State shook up contests in Republican districts that now tilt toward Democrats and, in the new 40th, drew both incumbents into the same district.

California has a jungle primary system, in which the two top candidates in a primary advance to the general election, no matter the party.

Calvert celebrated his race projection from Decision Desk HQ in a post on the social platform X, saying that he wanted “to thank everyone — our hardworking staff, our tireless volunteers and the over 100 grassroots leaders, local elected officials and national conservatives who worked day and night for our campaign, and most importantly, the voters who have put their trust in me.”

“We could not have done this without you. Tonight makes it clear that voters want an effective and consistent conservative who has been with President Trump from Day One,” Calvert added.

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