CALIFORNIA, USA — The balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives could come down to California.
ABC10 spoke with leaders in California’s Republican and Democratic parties Monday to see where they’re focusing their efforts in these final hours before the election.
“Everything is about getting our voters to the polls and getting those ballots in hand,” said Jessica Millan Patterson, chairwoman of the California Republican Party.
Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, said his party is “incredibly proud of our Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign and the opportunity to send a daughter of California to the White House.”
Both leaders said their respective parties are especially dialed in to the Central Valley, where two close races could tip the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. They are California’s 13th Congressional District race between Republican incumbent John Duarte and his Democratic challenger Adam Gray, and the 22nd District race between Republican incumbent David Valadao and his Democratic challenger Rudy Salas.
“Our focus on these congressional districts is a big deal for the entire country,” Millan Patterson said. “While other states will be working on the presidential election, our focus is to make sure we hold on to the House majority and grow that House majority.”
Both parties are working hard to ensure their voters get to the polls.
The races “will be decided not by tens of thousands of votes. In some cases, not even by thousands of votes. They will be decided by hundreds of votes,” Hicks said.
District 13’s race is a rematch between the two candidates after a very close race in 2022.
“We came up 564 votes short in Congressional District 13 with our candidate Adam Gray in 2022, and so we know what it's like to take a close loss,” Hicks said. “I think we've got the opportunity to reverse that in this election and also get Rudy Salas across the finish line as well.”
District 22's race is also a rematch of 2022, though the Democrat, Salas, lost by 3,132 votes.
Millan Patterson is also feeling good about her party’s prospects.
“We have done a lot of work over the last two years to improve that registration,” Millan Patterson said. "When David Valadao won in ’22, that seat was a Democrat advantage of 17.5%, so we've improved that registration there by over three points. Same thing with John Duarte. So we feel very, very good about the position that we are in now. It's certainly a better position than we were two years ago.”
The party that controls the House will have a big impact on the president’s administration.
“For a future President Harris-Walz Administration to have any opportunity of implementing a vision for our country, you’ve got to have control of the House of Representatives, to have a willing partner on the other side,” Hicks said. “So we've got to win some of these important seats.”
“We picked up five house seats in the last two congressional cycles,” Millan Patterson said. “Right now, the U.S. House of Representatives enjoys a four-seat house majority.”
All eyes will be on California to see who controls the House next year.
Political experts encourage California voters to be patient. In close races, it could be days or even weeks after the election before all the ballots are counted and the race is decided.
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