“We must win those races.”
That was the message last week during the Democratic National Convention, hammered home by party leaders such as Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, and California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks.
“We will not come up short. We will elect Democrats in California, we will grow our California delegation ranks, we will elect Hakeem Jeffries Speaker, and we absolutely will deliver California for the Harris Walz ticket,” Aguilar declared to a ballroom full of California delegates.
It’s not a new storyline that the path to the majority for the House runs through California, but with Golden State native Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, Democrats are hopeful that the same energy can translate to downballot races.
“Kamala Harris being at the top of the ticket will help Democrats in several competitive House districts in California,” explained Christian Grose, a professor of political science at the University of Southern California. "She is a known quantity, people do like her here."
In the Golden State, there are a handful of swing districts up for grabs: California’s 13th, 22nd, 27th, 41st, 45th, and 47th.
Grose pointed specifically to Rep. Mike Garica, R-Calif.’s district in the Santa Clarita area north of Los Angeles and Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Calif.’s Orange County districts as places Democratic and Independent voters are “going to be way more excited about Kamala Harris than they are Joe Biden.”
“I think particularly there are certain districts in the state that are currently held by Republicans or that Democrats hold, but could flip that her being at the top of the ticket is going to encourage a lot more younger people, voters of color, to turn out that would not have turned out necessarily in a Biden versus Trump election,” Grose explained.
The Harris campaign has reported eye popping $540 million raised since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and endorsed Harris. A campaign memo also reported that volunteers signed up for nearly 200,000 shifts during the convention week, the biggest week of organizing since the start of the campaign in July.
Emma Harris, campaign manager for George Whitesides, who is running against Garcia in the 27th, confirms to Spectrum News their campaign has seen a similar uptick in enthusiasm. In the two weeks following Biden dropping out of the race and Harris jumping into the campaign, Whitesides has seen “contributions from nearly 5,000 new donors and saw a large uptick in our weekly volunteer numbers,” said Harris. “Last weekend alone our volunteer team knocked [on] over 4,000 doors.”
The Democratic campaign arm is feeling bullish about their chances to flip the handful of seats in California that could lead to the majority.
“The path to the House majority has always run through California -- and now a Californian could win the White House, too. In the battle for Congress, our candidates hold the advantages that matter most: stronger campaigns, tangible momentum, and a better understanding of the realities that families across the state face each day,” said DCCC spokesperson Dan Gottlieb. “Bolstered by massive grassroots fundraising hauls to help reach Californians where they are and an army of volunteers from all walks of life more excited than ever to get involved, Democrats are ready to capture the moment and take back the House this November.”
But Republicans say they are not backing down.
“Kamala Harris embodies the disastrous San Francisco policies that turned California into a criminal’s paradise and repelled swing district voters,” said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ben Petersen, adding that "House Republicans are leading the charge to relieve California’s surging inflation, gas prices and crime."
