Your guide to the California Congressional District 27 race: Mike Garcia vs. Christy Smith
In our final installment of the 2018 U.S. House race breakdown, we check in on the highly competitive race between veteran Democrat Mike Garcia and Republican Christy Smith in California’s 27th Congressional District.
The race is just another example of a major California Congressional election in which incumbents are vulnerable, which puts the spotlight on a handful of candidates. Smith, a former Republican, became a Democrat in 2010 after the GOP endorsed her husband, former Congressman Rob Simmons. Today, Rob Simmons is running against Garcia, a former Republican congressman — a year after a party switch that made him highly vulnerable.
Garcia had previously won a district in 2014 and 2016, but a loss in the 2018 midterms may have made him vulnerable in California’s 27th District which has been a Republican stronghold since the 1970s. The race has also become increasingly partisan after the two congressional races that made headlines in early May. As Republican candidate Katie Hill raised $2 million in her race against Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar and Democrat Sean Casten came out in favor of impeaching President Donald Trump, Garcia’s campaign raised $1 million in June, a record for him.
Smith announced this week she was running for president earlier this year at a campaign rally. While she has received endorsements from former House Speaker John Boehner, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the California Republican Senate Caucus, and the Tea Party Patriots, Garcia’s campaign has received $1 million from the National Republican Campaign Committee, the National Republican Trust PAC, the California Republican House Caucus, the Republican Party of California, and former California Republican Congressman Tom Campbell.
In the race for CA-27, Garcia has the most to lose in this competitive and expensive district in a competitive reelection campaign, which is why he’s been so reluctant to concede. It’s more likely now that Garcia will try to pull ahead as the Democratic candidate to take the