{"id":526,"date":"2026-05-11T15:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=526"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:30:20","slug":"republicans-feud-and-fume-in-the-battle-for-a-southern-california-congressional-district-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=526","title":{"rendered":"Republicans feud, and fume, in the battle for a Southern California congressional district"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It\u2019s a showdown that \u2014 regardless of the outcome in the June 2 primary election \u2014 probably won\u2019t have Republicans in a celebratory mood. <\/p>\n

Read more Lots of \u2018pie in the sky\u2019 promises by governor wannabes with no way to pay for them<\/a><\/p>\n

The battle for the 40th Congressional District representing a swath of inland Orange County and portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties is happening in one of Southern California\u2019s only remaining solidly red districts. But that doesn\u2019t provide much solace, experts say. <\/p>\n

The shuffling of districts following the passage of Proposition 50, which gave Democrats in Sacramento the authority to redraw the state\u2019s congressional districts in favor of Democratic candidates, is pitting two current members of Congress \u2014 Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) and Ken Calvert (R-Corona) \u2014 against each other in a bid to keep their seat. <\/p>\n

The two are also fending off challenges from a host of Democrats and an independent candidate who says she hopes to win votes from those disenchanted by deeply partisan politics felt across the country. <\/p>\n

But even if a Republican keeps the seat, California\u2019s Republican congressional delegation is still down by another member. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all part of the Prop. 50 effort,\u201d said Jon Fleischman, a conservative strategist. \u201cNot only did they reduce the number of seats that Republicans have, they got to shove a couple of incumbents into one seat and eat popcorn and watch the food fight.\u201d <\/p>\n

And the gloves are already off. <\/p>\n

Kim launched a $3.7-million ad blitz last month with a video boasting her support of President Trump, saying that she\u2019s a \u201ctrusted Trump conservative.\u201d <\/p>\n

Calvert\u2019s campaign responded in an attack ad that referred to Kim as a RINO, or Republican in name only, a pejorative term frequently used by Trump and others in the GOP to describe conservatives perceived as being disloyal to the party and a \u201cTrump traitor.\u201d <\/p>\n

The television advertisement, which began airing last month, called attention to Kim co-sponsoring legislation with other Republicans to censure Trump in 2022 after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Democrats widely criticized the move as a slap on the wrist. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe censuring the president after his actions helps hold him accountable and could garner wide bipartisan support, allowing the House to remain united during some of our nation\u2019s darkest days,\u201d Kim said at the time. <\/p>\n

Read more The crazy new world of wildfire home-defense tech<\/a><\/p>\n

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists the 40th District, which extends from Villa Park south to Mission Viejo in Orange County and into Corona, Murrieta and Menifee in the Inland Empire, as being solidly Republican. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the only House seat that was competitive under the old congressional district map that is now fairly safe for the GOP. Trump would have won the district by 12 points in 2024.<\/p>\n

As the two incumbents trade jabs, Democrats Esther Kim Varet, an art gallery owner; Lisa Ramirez, an immigration attorney; Joe Kerr, a retired fire captain; and Claude Keissieh, an electrical engineer; are hoping to garner enough support among the progressives in the district to advance to the November election. <\/p>\n

Nina Linh, who entered the race early on as a Democrat but has since identified as an independent, is hoping to make inroads with voters disenchanted by both parties. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at our political climate, I have never in my adult life witnessed or experienced anything so polarized,\u201d she said in a recent interview. \u201cAnd people, including myself, are just exhausted from this back-and-forth rhetoric for over a decade that has gotten us into a culture of just hyper-divisiveness and extreme partisanship that is prioritized over what everyday people are concerned about.\u201d <\/p>\n

Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine, called the race in the 40th District a \u201cclassic matchup between the two Republican parties \u2014 the pro-Trump party and the pre-Trump party.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kim, who in 2020 was one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress, does vote to advance Trump policies, but her biography is more consistent with an earlier era of conservatism. Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in California\u2019s congressional delegation, has much more aggressively positioned himself in line with Trump, Schnur said. <\/p>\n

The district is representative in a lot of ways of the two types of Republicans that make up much of the party\u2019s base \u2014 MAGA supporters and traditional Republicans who have either come to accept Trump or quietly resent him. <\/p>\n

\u201cNot only is this district reflective of the challenge that the party is facing around the country this year, it could be an early precursor of what Republicans will face in the 2028 presidential primary,\u201d Schnur said. <\/p>\n

Read more Aramco, Adnoc sneak oil through Hormuz as Iran menaces strait<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a showdown that \u2014 regardless of the outcome in the June 2 primary election \u2014 probably won’t have Republicans in a celebratory mood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nRepublicans feud, and fume, in the battle for a Southern California congressional district - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=526\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republicans feud, and fume, in the battle for a Southern California congressional district - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It's a showdown that \u2014 regardless of the outcome in the June 2 primary election \u2014 probably won't have Republicans in a celebratory mood.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=526\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-11T15:30:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"Republicans feud, and fume, in the battle for a Southern California congressional district\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-11T15:30:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526\"},\"wordCount\":799,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d72457948ebd7656bb01c48587f4c6c6-1-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526\",\"name\":\"Republicans feud, and fume, in the battle for a Southern California congressional district - California Relocation Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d72457948ebd7656bb01c48587f4c6c6-1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-11T15:30:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=526#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d72457948ebd7656bb01c48587f4c6c6-1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d72457948ebd7656bb01c48587f4c6c6-1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Left, Rep. 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