Democrats Drew This California Seat to Flip It

Decision Desk HQ made the call Saturday night time after a number of days of vote counting: Democrats are out of California’s fortieth Congressional District. Rep. Young Kim superior out of the first alongside Rep. Ken Calvert, and November can be a Republican-versus-Republican. 

Decision Desk HQ initiatives Young Kim as one of two winners in the CA US House 40 Primary#DecisionMade: 8:59 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/2MpEaNekjB

— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) June 7, 2026

California voters handed Proposition 50 last 12 months, redrawing the state’s congressional maps. Governor Gavin Newsom (D) was the driving power behind it, and the said objective was flipping Republican seats. The new fortieth was supposed to be one of them. The plan was to jam two Republican incumbents into the same district, allow them to bloody each other, and stroll in and take the seat.

Calvert completed first with about 36 % of the vote. Kim was second at around 21 %. Democrat Esther Kim-Varet was third at roughly 16 %. In California’s top-two main, third place is the same as last place. She is accomplished.

Calvert didn’t wait around to declare victory.

“Tonight makes it clear that voters want an effective and consistent conservative who has been with President Trump from Day One. I look forward to winning this race in November.”

Kim’s marketing campaign pushed back on the spending hole and made clear they weren’t going wherever. 

“While there are many ballots left to be counted, despite being outspent 10 to 1, we are confident that Congresswoman Kim will be advancing to the November election and that she’ll put an end to Ken Calvert’s 30-plus years of failing to deliver for the people of Southern California.”

Before Proposition 50, Calvert held the forty first, and Kim held the fortieth. Newsom’s map worn out both of their districts and dropped them into the same one, and a race that went national fast was the end result.

By mid-May, more than $17 million had been raised in the fortieth, making it one of the most costly House primaries in the nation. Kim raised $7.5 million while Calvert raised $5.1 million. The TV advertisements have been brutal. Both sides questioned the other’s conservative credentials and loyalty to Trump.

Read More: Banana Republic by Mail: Why We Probably Won’t Know Outcomes of CA’s Crucial Primaries for Days

Young Kim Holds the Line for CA-40, Defeats Asif Mahmood

A Calvert-aligned advert called Kim a RINO and told voters to “stop liberal Young Kim before she stops Trump.” Kim’s marketing campaign hit back by dredging up a Nineties incident in which Calvert was discovered in a car with a prostitute, calling him a “sleazebag.”

Democrats sabotaged themselves. Rather than consolidating behind one candidate, the social gathering ran a number of people in the fortieth and break up the vote. Kim-Varet raised $2.1 million and was the strongest of the bunch, but a number of other Democrats and an impartial stayed in the race anyway.

Kim’s marketing campaign accused Calvert allies of spending roughly $1 million boosting a Democratic candidate in an effort to forestall Democrats from consolidating behind Kim-Varet. Kim-Varet called the stragglers out straight, evaluating them to Antonio Villaraigosa, who stayed in the governor’s race long enough to drain votes from other Democrats.

“They were the Antonio Villaraigosas in the district who stayed in and pulled votes away that we needed to get into the top two.” 

Democrats can have no one on the November poll in a district Newsom’s group particularly engineered to flip. Voters in the fortieth will select between two Republicans who spent months and thousands and thousands attempting to destroy each other.

The seat stays Republican regardless of what occurs in November. Newsom drew a map designed to value Republicans seats in California, and in the fortieth, it value Democrats a shot at one instead.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will decide the destiny of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must keep control of both chambers of Congress.

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