Dem-on-Dem infighting rocks CA-47 race
Katie Porter abandoning the 47th Congressional district threw Democrats’ chances of holding onto the swing district into peril.
From Roll Call: “I can absolutely see why Katie Porter … [wants] to be in that United States Senate seat, but that leaves this district without an incumbent, and it makes it harder for the Democrats to hold on to it, said Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Fullerton College. “It will be an incredibly expensive and competitive battle.”
Now, Democrat candidates are relentlessly attacking each other and taking extreme far-left positions like calling to pack and defund the Supreme Court.
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NOTE: “Orange County families want solutions to skyrocketing costs, crime and homelessness, not this race-to-the-far-left primary. Democrats’ relentless infighting and disregard for voters’ frustrations will cement these candidates as extreme and out-of-touch.”
Race in open California district could be pivotal to House control
Roll Call
Daniela Altimari
Republican who narrowly lost to Porter sees opportunity as two Democrats compete
When Martie Lubetkin moved to Orange County in 1976, the region was such a conservative stronghold that a liberal friend drove around with a bumper sticker that read, “It’s OK to be a Democrat behind the orange curtain.”
“It was all orange groves and farmers and it was deeply, deeply red,” said Lubetkin, a retired speech-language pathologist from Irvine.
Democrats pulled down that curtain in 2018, sweeping all six of the county’s congressional seats. Among them was the 47th District, which was won by Katie Porter, a progressive law professor and minivan-driving single mom whose viral moments helped her attain a measure of celebrity unusual for a rank-and-file member of Congress.
But Republicans reclaimed two of those districts in 2020 and now, with Porter running for Senate, the GOP has its sights on the open seat in the 47th.
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Democrats are fighting to hold on to the southern California battleground — which is likely to play a key role in determining which party controls the House — and are split between state Sen. Dave Min and community activist Joanna Weiss. Under California’s rules, the top two finishers — regardless of party affiliation — in the March 5 primary will appear on the November ballot.
“I can absolutely see why Katie Porter … [wants] to be in that United States Senate seat, but that leaves this district without an incumbent, and it makes it harder for the Democrats to hold on to it, said Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Fullerton College. “It will be an incredibly expensive and competitive battle.”
Min, who ran for the seat in 2018 and finished third in the primary, jumped into the race first and quickly picked up Porter’s endorsement. In May, his campaign took a hit when he was cited for driving under the influence and was later sentenced to three years probation.
[…]
National Republicans, who are expected to invest in the race after Baugh came close in 2022 despite being outspent 9-to-1, said they plan to focus on the same issues that boosted the party in other suburban California districts won by Biden in 2020.
“Orange County families want solutions to skyrocketing costs, crime and homelessness, not this race-to-the-far-left primary. Democrats’ relentless infighting and disregard for voters’ frustrations will cement these candidates as extreme and out-of-touch,” said Ben Petersen, spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee.
The NRCC says Min’s recent comments during a candidate forum — where he said Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should be “in prison under indictment, at the very least” — represent an “extremist” position.
[…]
Baugh echoes those points, saying both Min and Weiss are out of step with the voters of Orange County.
“This district is center right and they are not center right. They’re not even center left, they are progressive left,” said Baugh, who as an 18-year-old voted for Reagan and considers himself a Reagan Republican.