After months of campaigning and surviving the June 7, 2022 primary election, the two highest vote-getters in 17 congressional races in Los Angeles County and nearby districts in Ventura and Orange counties face their rivals on Nov. 8, 2022. From Antelope Valley to Long Beach to Fullerton, voters head to the polls on Nov. 8 — or mail in their ballots — to decide who goes to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The winners of those races in the statewide general election will head to Washington, D.C. later this year to take their places as U.S. Representatives.
Below is a roundup of the congressional races that voters will decide in November.
District 23: Incumbent Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte’s focus is on growing the economy and bringing jobs to California, cutting red tape for small businesses, and reducing taxes to encourage job growth, according to his campaign website. He is vying to represent a new district that encompasses the desert between the Antelope Valley and the Nevada border. His challenger is a community organizer and Democrat Derek Marshall, whose top priorities are increasing local jobs through a Green New Deal, ensuring everyone has healthcare and bringing affordable housing to the Inland Empire for working families.
District 26: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley of Westlake Village is vying to keep her seat representing the Ventura County district where she has held office since 2012. Her opponent is Republican ex-federal prosecutor Matt Jacobs, who is committed to supporting law enforcement while fighting policies that defund the police. He supports cutting taxes, reducing regulations, and ending policies that hurt job creators, small businesses and the middle class. Brownley supports investments in clean, renewable, and sustainable energy to counterbalance climate change and policies that support agricultural producers, workers and businesses.
27th Congressional District runoff during the Nov. 8 general election. Incumbent Mike Garcia (R) goes against Christy Smith (D). (Courtesy photos)
District 27: Incumbent Rep. Mike Garcia, a Republican, former fighter pilot, and aerospace executive and resident of Santa Clarita, will be challenged again by Democrat Christy Smith, also a longtime resident of Santa Clarita, who challenged him twice in 2020 after the resignation of former Rep. Katie Hill left an open seat. Cal Matters identifies the race as one of the most competitive in the nation, which could determine who holds the majority in Congress. Garcia, who has focused on supporting Trump’s economic policies, currently serves on two House committees: House Committee on Appropriations and House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Garcia’s main priorities include jobs, economy, national security, veterans and wildfire mitigation. Smith, a former state assembly member, is focused on investing in education, infrastructure and healthcare, according to her campaign website.
District 28: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Judy Chu, whose district encircled parts of the San Fernando Valley for several years, is now running to represent the recently redrawn district which includes Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead and Arcadia. Her major issues include education, foreign policy, small business and transportation. Her opponent is Republican Wes Hallman, a pilot and senior vice president of Strategy and Policy for the National Defense Industrial Association whose focus is fighting inflation, making communities safe and investing in the next generation’s education.
District 29: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Tony Cárdenas represents a redrawn district that includes several San Fernando Valley communities, including Sylmar, Pacoima and Panorama City. Among his leading issues are healthcare, environment and climate change, immigration and animal rights. He is being challenged by fellow Democrat Angelica Maria Duenas, community organizer and former president of the Sun Valley Neighborhood Council who sought this seat twice in 2018 and 2020, who supports healthcare and housing for all, criminal justice and immigration reform and environmental justice.
Congressional District 29 candidates Rep. Tony Cardenas and Angélica María Dueñas. (Courtesy photos)
District 30: Rep. Adam Schiff serves as the chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which oversees the nation’s intelligence agencies. Schiff was among the U.S. lawmakers who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a member of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees American foreign assistance, Adam has made assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh a top priority. Rep. Adam Schiff has represented the largest Armenian diasporas in the country and serves as vice chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus. He was the first member of Congress to call for the formal U.S. recognition of the Independent Republic of Artsakh. He is being challenged by fellow Democrat Maebe A. Girl, a member of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council’s Budget and Finance Committee and the Silver Lake LGBTQIA Advocates Committee. Girl wants health care, housing and education for all; environmental and racial justice, and LGBTQIA rights.
District 31: Democrat Grace Napolitano is challenged by Republican Daniel Bocic Martinez, a criminal and immigration attorney, to represent Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Glendora Irwindale, La Puente, La Verne, Monrovia, San Dimas, South El Monte and West Covina and unincorporated areas of Avocado Heights, Bassett, Charter Oak, South San Jose Hills and Valinda. Napolitano’s campaign is centered on homelessness, immigration and gun violence prevention. Martinez’s priorities include veteran support, national security and energy independence.
Lucie Lapointe Volotzk, a Republican businesswoman, is challenging U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, for a seat in the newly formed 32nd Congressional District. (Photo Courtesy of Lucie Lapointe Volotzky)
District 32: In the district that encompasses Bel Air, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Encino, Malibu, and Northridge, business owner Lucie Lapointe Volotzky, a Republican who is running against high-profile incumbent, Democrat Rep. Brad Sherman, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Financial Services Committee, and a member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Volotzky’s priorities include immigration, economy, homelessness, education and public safety. Sherman’s main focus is supporting Armenia and Israel in Congress, protecting the environment and promoting the Green New Deal.
U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks is challenged by Lucie Lapointe Volotzk for a seat in the newly formed 32nd Congressional District. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
District 34: Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez seeks a return to the House to represent this tweaked district that includes Boyle Heights, Koreatown and Chinatown. His challenger is fellow Democrat and immigration attorney David Kim. Some of the issues Kim promotes include Medicare for all, a Green New Deal, and immigration and foreign policy reform. Gomez promotes Medicare for all, lowering drug costs, student debt cancellation, affordable housing and fighting homelessness.
District 35: Democratic Rep. Norma Torres, D-Pomona, who has been in the office since 2015, is challenged by Republican Mike Cargile, who is a businessman. The 35th district includes the communities of Chino, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario and Pomona. Torres’ priorities include public safety, budget and fiscal responsibility, immigration, environment, jobs and the economy. Cargile’s major issues are healthcare, immigration, safety, jobs and the economy.
District 36: South Bay icon Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat who has grown his national profile since sparring with then-President Trump, faces Republican retired U.S. Navy sailor Joe Collins from South Central Los Angeles, who calls for improving education for children, bringing high-paying jobs to the district and ending homelessness.
District 37: A new member of Congress is guaranteed from this district that stretches from Century City to South Los Angeles and takes in Culver City, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw District, USC, downtown Los Angeles, and part of Inglewood. State Sen. Sydney Kamlager faces fellow Democrat Jan Perry, a former councilwoman of the Los Angeles City Council from 2001 until 2013. Kamlager is a vice chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus and serves on California Legislative Women’s and California Legislative Technology and Innovation caucuses and serves on legislative committees including Appropriations, Budget and Fiscal Review, and Human Services. Kamlager’s priorities are healthcare, women’s reproductive freedoms, immigration and climate change. Perry, after her time on the L.A. City Council, became general manager of the city’s Economic & Workforce Development Department, and in 2018 became executive director of the Infrastructure Funding Alliance, which advocates for environmentally and fiscally sustainable infrastructure projects. Perry’s priorities include healthcare, immigration, climate change, women’s reproductive freedom and homelessness.
State Sen. Sydney Kamlager, left, and former LA City Councilwoman Jan Perry were leading in the June 7, 2022 primary for the California’s 37th Congressional District seat. The district stretches from South LA to Culver City, and there was no incumbent because Rep. Karen Bass is running for mayor of Los Angeles. (Courtesy photos)
District 38: Rep. Linda Sánchez, a familiar figure among Democrats, is the heavy favorite to win another term in Congress this year, representing a solidly blue district that’s mostly in east Los Angeles County plus a slice of Orange County. She’s challenged by Republican and Walnut Mayor Eric Ching who has won three elections in his suburban city.
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District 42: Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia faces Republican John Briscoe — a longtime elected board member of the Ocean View School District in Huntington Beach, who lost against incumbent Alan Lowenthal for the 47th District in 2020. Briscoe’s issues include homelessness, healthcare, immigration and infrastructure. Garcia advocates for a guaranteed income pilot program, defending immigrant families and fighting for more paths to citizenship.
42nd Congressional District runoff between Republican candidate John Briscoe and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, D. (Courtesy photo and staff file photo)
District 43: Incumbent Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters serves as a member of the Steering and Policy Committee, is the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease, and is the second-most senior member of the California congressional delegation after Nancy Pelosi. Before going to Congress, Waters served in the California State Assembly after being elected in 1976. She faces Republican Omar Navarro, a founder of a small tech company, who received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and assisted victims of crimes at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. District 43 stretches from LAX to Inglewood to Gardena and Compton and parts of Torrance.
District 44: In this district that sweeps from the Port of L.A. to Carson and Paramount and South Gate, incumbent Democratic Rep. Nanette Barragán is challenged by Republican newcomer Paul Jones, a minister. Barragán’s major issues include education, student loans, environment, energy, transportation and national security. Jones’ main priorities include inflation, border security, immigration, lower taxes and education.
District 45: Incumbent Republican Michelle Steel is facing Democrat Jay Chen, a member of the board of trustees for Mt. San Antonio Community College and an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserves. This race is seen as a tight battle and a rare competition between two Asian American candidates for Congress in a district where Asian American voters have drifted to the Democratic Party, according to CalMatters. The candidates are vying for a newly redrawn district, one of the most racially-diverse and competitive in the country, which includes Brea and Fullerton in north Orange County, as well as Artesia, Westminster and Garden Grove. Chen supports affordable health care, investment in infrastructure, creating jobs and supporting veterans and their families. Steel supports easy access for all families to high-quality education and building a business-friendly climate to grow the economy.
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