Los Angeles Times - 05.03.2020

A12 THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020 LATIMES.COM

■■■ ELECTION 2020 ■■■

WASHINGTON — Re-
publicans’ aggressive cam-
paign to reclaim some of the
California congressional
seats they lost in 2018 saw
mixed results in Tuesday’s
primary, showing how diffi-
cult it might be to regain a
foothold as the state trends
toward Democrats and vot-
ers with no party preference.
Based on early results,
Republican candidates are
ahead in two of the seven
House districts they lost in
2018, including former Rep.
David Valadao, who is look-
ing to make a comeback in
the Central Valley’s 21st Dis-
trict, and Young Kim, a Ko-
rean American former mem-
ber of the state Assembly, in
Orange County’s 39th Dis-
trict.
But the GOP’s preferred
candidates are poised to
land on the November ballot
in just three of the four dis-
tricts the party has specif-
ically targeted to win back.
And in the three other of the
seven lost districts, Republi-
cans didn’t coalesce around
a single candidate.
Of course all the tallies
are only preliminary and
could change dramatically
in the coming weeks as hun-
dreds of thousands of mail
ballots are counted across
the state.
In 2018, those mail-in bal-
lots skewed heavily to
Democrats, in many cases
erasing early Republican
margins and ultimately
handing the seat to Demo-
crats.
Republicans blamed
their 2018 losses on Demo-
crats’ strategy of collecting
mail-in ballots from sup-
porters, such as at nursing
homes, and dropping them
off at polling places, which is
legal under a 2016 California
law. At the time, Republi-
cans criticized the practice
as shady. But this time
around they’ve acknowl-
edged that they need to
build their own operation in
order to effectively compete
and have vowed to do so.
The final results from
Tuesday’s primary, once
completed, will offer the first
glimpse of how effective that
GOP ballot collection cam-
paign was.
University of the Pacific
political scientist Keith
Smith said the practice,
sometimes known as ballot
harvesting, normally works
best when it is organized by a
respected local group, like a
church or community cen-
ter. Historically it works best
in groups that tend to vote
for Democrats, he said.
“Outside of evangelical
churches, I just don’t know
where the groups are that
could do that for Republican
voters,” he said.
Republicans have vowed
to improve their ground
game for 2020. Early last
year, the national Republi-
can campaign arm hired a

state director — Orange

County native Sam Spencer

— to lead its comeback oper-

ation. The state party has re-

cruited 17,000 volunteers to

build relationships with

likely voters in their commu-

nities and collect their bal-

lots in the fall.

Kyle Kondik, managing

editor of Larry Sabato’s

Crystal Ball at the Uni-

versity of Virginia Center for

Politics, a nonpartisan elec-

tion handicapper, warned

against reading too much

into Tuesday’s results, espe-

cially with so many ballots

still to be counted.

“Some of the initial re-

sults may seem promising

for Republicans right now,

but let’s wait until all the bal-

lots are in to make any as-

sessments,” Kondik said.

The most competitive

race in California will likely

be Valadao’s bid to regain

the seat he lost to Rep. TJ

Cox by just 862 votes.

On paper, the 21st Dis-

trict’s high Latino popula-

tion and double-digit Demo-

cratic voter registration ad-

vantage has long made it

look like it should be a

Democratic stronghold, but

Valadao easily held the dis-

trict for years until Cox eked

out a win in 2018.

“He’s got the name recog-

nition and the relationships

in the district where he

might be able to pull it off,”

Smith said. “I think he

stands a chance of getting it

back.”

And Cox’s first 14 months

in Congress have been

marked with reports by the

Fresno Bee of a series of fi-

nancial problems, including

most recently that the Inter-

nal Revenue Service has tak-

en out a nearly $145,000 lien

against him for unpaid

taxes.

In Orange County, Re-

publicans appear to have

gotten their top choices —

both Korean American

women — in two other com-

petitive races.

In the 48th District,

Democratic Rep. Harley

Rouda of Laguna Beach

looks likely to face Republi-

can Orange County Supervi-

sor Michelle Steel. And in

the 39th District, early re-

turns have Democratic Rep.

Gil Cisneros of Yorba Linda

trailing Kim, whom he beat

in 2018 by 7,611 votes.

Steel and Kim are among

Republicans’ top recruits

this cycle and have demon-

strated impressive fundrais-

ing abilities for challengers.

While fundraising isn’t a

guarantee of support, it can

scare away strong challeng-

ers. Two of the freshmen

Democratic representatives

in hotly contested districts,

Rep. Josh Harder in the 10th

District and Rep. Katie

Porter in the 45th District,

are both strong fundraisers.

That’s dampened Republi-

can enthusiasm to take

them on, said Nathan Gon-

zales, publisher of Inside

Elections, a nonpartisan

campaign newsletter. Hard-

er is one of the top freshman

fundraisers in the country.

“It will be an expensive

proposition for Republicans

if they want to take him on,”

Gonzales said.

Still, early returns show

Harder with just a marginal

lead against Ted Howze, a

Turlock veterinarian who

came in third in the 2018 pri-

mary.

Porter, who has drawn

national attention for her ag-

gressive witness question-

ing as a member of the pow-

erful House Financial Serv-

ices Committee, has nearly

50% of the counted votes,

and early returns have her

facing off against Mission Vi-

ejo Councilman Greg Raths.

Political watchers were

expecting her rival would be

Laguna Hills Mayor Donald

Sedgwick, who raised the

most money among the

crowded Republican field

and earned some big-name

endorsements.

In the 49th District, Rep.

Mike Levin faces Republi-

can Brian Maryott, the may-

or of San Juan Capistrano

and the eighth-place fin-

isher in the 2018 primary.

The first test of whether

Republicans can reclaim

one of these seats comes in

the special election to re-

place Democrat Katie Hill in

the 25th District. Hill re-

signed in December amid al-

legations of sexual relation-

ships with campaign and

Capitol Hill staff, the later of

which is a violation of House

ethics rules. She denied the

affair with a congressional

staffer and blamed the alle-

gations on her estranged

husband.

Former Rep. Steve

Knight, the Republican who

was ousted in 2018 by Hill, is

running third. Though re-

sults are still incomplete,

Democratic Assemblywom-

an Christy Smith of Santa

Clarita and Republican de-

fense contractor Mike Gar-

cia seemed poised for a May

runoff to represent the

northern suburbs of Los An-

geles.

Times staff writer Jennifer

Haberkorn in Washington

contributed to this report.

GOP’s comeback sees mixed results

Republicans ahead in

two of the California

House seats they lost

in 2018. Will it last?

By Sarah D. Wire

FORMERRep. David Valadao, left, of California’s Central Valley with Republican colleagues in the U.S. Capitol in June 2018. Valadao is

leading in his bid to regain the seat he lost to TJ Cox by just 862 votes. It’s considered the most competitive congressional race in the state.

J. Scott ApplewhiteAssociated Press

EARLY RETURNSshow Orange County Republican Young Kim, seen in 2018,

leading Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros. Kim lost to Cisneros in 2018 by 7,611 votes.

Genaro MolinaLos Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — Chief
Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
issued a rare statement
Wednesday to rebuke Sen-
ate Minority Leader Charles
E. Schumer for what Rob-
erts called “threatening”
and “dangerous” state-
ments directed at the two
justices named by President
Trump. The president soon
weighed in as well, with a
tweet.
The chief justice was re-
sponding to a widely circu-
lated video of Schumer, a
New York Democrat, speak-
ing at a rally outside the
court as the justices, includ-
ing Neil M. Gorsuch and
Brett M. Kavanaugh, were
hearing arguments in a ma-
jor abortion case.
Turning as if to address
the court and the justices,
Schumer said: “I want to tell
you, Gorsuch, I want to tell
you, Kavanaugh. You have

released the whirlwind, and

you will pay the price. You

won’t know what hit you if

you go forward with these

awful decisions.”

Gorsuch and Kavanaugh

were confirmed by the Sen-

ate in Trump’s first two

years, despite opposition

from Schumer and his fellow

Democrats.

Later in the day, after

conservatives had excoriat-

ed Schumer for hours on so-

cial media, Roberts issued

his statement quoting

Schumer’s words and noting

that the Democrat had cited

two justices by name.

“Justices know that criti-

cism comes with the terri-

tory, but threatening state-

ments of this sort from the

highest levels of government

are not only inappropriate,

they are dangerous,” Rob-

erts said. “All members of

the court will continue to do

their job, without fear or fa-

vor, from whatever quarter.”

About two hours later,

Trump wrote on Twitter:

“This is a direct & danger-

ous threat to the U.S.

Supreme Court by Schumer.

If a Republican did this, he

or she would be arrested, or

impeached. Serious action

MUST be taken NOW!”

Justin Goodman, a

spokesman for Schumer,

said the senator’s comments

“were a reference to the po-

litical price Senate Republi-

cans will pay for putting

these justices on the court,

and a warning that the jus-

tices will unleash a major

grass-roots movement on

the issue of reproductive

rights against the decision.”

He noted that Roberts

did not speak out last week

after Trump criticized Jus-

tices Sonia Sotomayor and

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, both

nominated by Democratic

presidents, as biased. The

president did so in a tweet

and at news briefing while he

was in New Delhi, without of-

fering specifics.

“I just don’t know how

they cannot recuse them-

selves for anything Trump

or Trump-related,” he told

reporters.

Sotomayor had issued a

solo dissent in a case a few

days earlier that criticized

her conservative colleagues

for frequently granting the

administration’s emergency

appeals, clearing the way for

disputed regulations to take

effect. She did not criticize

Trump or his administra-

tion directly, but conserva-

tive news outlet described

her comments as an attack

on the administration.

Schumer’s spokesman

added: “For Justice Roberts

to follow the right wing’s de-

liberate misinterpretation of

what Sen. Schumer said,

while remaining silent when

President Trump attacked

Justices Sotomayor and

Ginsburg last week, shows

Justice Roberts does not

just call balls and strikes.”

By that last phrase,

Goodman was tweaking

Roberts, who in his Senate

confirmation hearing in 2005

famously compared the job

of an impartial judge to that

of an umpire calling balls

and strikes.

Chief justice denounces ‘threatening’ remarks

CHIEF JUSTICEJohn G. Roberts Jr. responded to a video of Sen. Charles E.

Schumer calling out Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh.

Jabin BotsfordGetty Images

Roberts is upset by a

Democratic senator’s

statements about two

conservative justices.

By David G. Savage