The results from last week’s special election in California’s 25th Congressional District should serve as a wake-up call for national Democrat partisans. I’d know: I’ve represented part of Southern California for almost 20 years.
The 25th District sits just north of Los Angeles and includes parts of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. It’s turned blue in recent years and is similar to the districts where Democrats have gained a foothold in their current majority in Congress. The district is suburban, professional and has a higher-than-average educational attainment level.
Hillary Clinton won the district by nearly seven points in 2016; disgraced former Congresswoman Katie Hill won handily in 2018; and, the Democrat challenger from last week’s election, Assemblywoman Christy Smith, represents a state assembly district that covers half of the 25th District and beat an incumbent Republican in 2018.
And at the risk of stating the obvious: we’re talking about California. Republicans have not flipped a congressional seat in the state since 1998.