California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom helped pass a gerrymandered map in the state that would allow for Democrats to “pick up” 5 U.S. House seats.
However, this has already backfired on the Democrats after another election was finally called in California.
Two Republican candidates in California’s 40th Congressional District have advanced to the general election, delivering a blow to Democrats.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) and Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) have been vying for the same seat even after redistricting, with Decision Desk HQ reporting Calvert at 35.68 percent and Kim at 21.12 percent on Sunday.
The two Republicans are running after mid-decade redistricting, further gerrymandering California’s district lines, which already gives Congressional Democrats a gross advantage far beyond the party’s share of the state’s vote.
In a social media post on Sunday, Eric Daugherty of Florida’s Voice News said Democrats had been “locked out” of California’s 40th Congressional District “Meaning zero resources must now be spent on defending the seat this November.”
“House control could run through California. Federal ‘election month’ should be BANNED by SCOTUS by the midterms so they can’t cheat!” Daugherty added.
Texas Republican Rep. Brandon Gill had endorsed Calvert, who explained that “It comes down to two things. One is that Ken Calvert is a huge defender and supporter of the president. And number two, he’s got a fantastic record on immigration, which I think is the most important issue that we have in front of us today.”
Gill also noted Kim cosponsored a resolution to censure President Donald Trump in 2021, and was an “original cosponsor of the Dignidad Act, a mass amnesty bill — notably with a non-English title — pushed by pro-migration Republicans.”
🚨 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
The scene in California has ignited questions across social media.
It has raised questions about the pace of ballot processing as election officials work through hundreds of thousands of outstanding votes more than a week after Election Day.
According to figures released by county officials Wednesday night, only 77,521 additional ballots had been processed since the June 2 election.
Yet officials estimated that approximately 713,180 ballots remained outstanding and still needed to be counted, the California Post reported following its investigation of the facility.
However, during The Post’s visit, large portions of the facility’s work stations were empty, while boxes of ballots could be seen everywhere.
“In one area, where ballots that cannot be automatically read by scanners are reviewed by election workers, roughly 25 bins of ballots appeared ready for processing while no employees were seated at nearby desks,” the outlet reported.
“In another section where workers open envelopes and prepare ballots for counting, The Post observed about 75 employees working, despite the area being capable of accommodating more than twice that number,” it said.
As vote counting continues at a slow pace across Los Angeles County and much of California, reporters visiting the county’s 144,000-square-foot ballot processing center on Thursday found numerous workstations sitting empty despite a massive backlog of ballots still awaiting review.
Last week, Trump accused “Dumocrats” of stealing statewide elections in California.
“The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS,” he wrote in a Truth social post.
There’s been no confirmed cheating.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
