For just the second time in over two decades, a Republican has captured a Democratic-held congressional district in California.
Republican Michelle Steel has defeated first-term Democratic Congressman Harley Rouda in Orange County's 48th Congressional District, a former Republican stronghold that includes Laguna Beach, Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach. It's a big victory for the beleaguered California GOP, who lost the seat to Rouda in 2018.
The Associated Press projected Steel as the winner in the right race Tuesday afternoon, a week after Election Day.
Republican Mike Garcia won an open congressional seat north of Los Angeles in May, claiming the post vacated by Democrat Katie Hill. That marked the first time the GOP flipped a California district from the Democrats in more than 20 years.
This is only the second time it's happened, now in less than a year's time.
Steel's win is historic. The Republican chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors joins Washington state's Marilyn Strickland as the first Korean American women elected to Congress. Strickland, who is a Democrat, won her race last week in a district southwest of Seattle.
The GOP's victory in the Southern California district comes two years after Republicans lost seven House seats to the Democrats, giving them an overwhelming 46-7 majority in the state's delegation.
Nationally, Democrats on Tuesday learned they would retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives, having picked up just a single Republican-held seat. The GOP, meanwhile, won at least a half a dozen seats as of Tuesday morning with other races yet to be projected.
