What Went Down In The June 7 Primaries

Of all of the competitive House races in California this cycle, Young Kim’s reelection campaign in the 40th District was supposed to be the most straightforward for Republicans. Unlike every other vulnerable GOP member of the delegation, Kim’s seat was actually made more favorable to Republicans in redistricting.

So why has the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC closely affiliated with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, spent $900,000 — more money than it’s spent in any other district in the country so far — boosting Kim in the final stretch?

The answer lies in redistricting, and perhaps in another Republican running for the same seat: Mission Viejo Councilman Greg Raths, who has been the target of much of the CLF’s — and Kim’s — negative advertising.

Kim is a sitting member of Congress, and Raths is an underfunded challenger who’s been picking up shifts as an Uber driver during the campaign. But voters in the district may actually be more familiar with Raths than they are with Kim. That’s because, while the new 40th District is an amalgamation of six old districts, the bulk of its voters are in the old 45th, where Raths lost to Rep. Katie Porter in 2020 by 7 points, and not Kim’s current district, the 39th.

Kim previously appeared on the ballot for just 20 percent of the new district’s residents, while Raths appeared on the ballot for 66 percent. But among Republican voters, the skew is even more in Raths’s favor, because the parts of the old 45th District that are now in the 40th District lean more heavily Republican.

Republicans in D.C. believe there’s a real chance that Raths, not Young, could finish in one of the top two spots and advance to the general election. Then, they fear he would be a weaker candidate against likely Democratic standard-bearer Asif Mahmood. Not only did Raths lose in 2020, but he is a weak fundraiser, and he recently had to apologize for making anti-Semitic remarks. Mahmood’s campaign, looking to capitalize, has spent $400,000 boosting Raths in the hopes of getting a weaker opponent in November.

With about 30 percent of the vote counted in California’s 3rd District, it’s increasingly clear that Democrat Kermit Jones, a physician and veteran, will earn a spot in the November general election. Vying for the second spot are state Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, who is endorsed by Trump, and Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. Currently, Kermit Jones has 42 percent, Kiley has 35 percent and Scott Jones is in third with 16 percent.

The first votes are starting to trickle in in the California attorney general race. With an estimated 11 percent of the vote reporting, incumbent Democrat Rob Bonta leads with 54 percent. Republican Nathan Hochman is in second place with 23 percent. Independent Anne Marie Schubert, probably the only candidate who could give Bonta a scare in November, is in fourth place with just 7 percent.