Republicans hope to unseat four of California's Democratic congressmen in 2018
The campaign committee for congressional Republicans has named four Democratic congressmen from California as prime targets they plan to defeat in 2018 midterm elections.
The National Republican Congressional Committee said its "top offensive targets" in California are:
- Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove)
- Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara)
- Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego)
- Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Palm Springs)
Though Bera has won three elections, they have all been expensive nail-biters. Bera and Hillary Clinton won 51% of the vote in his suburban Sacramento district in 2016.
Bera’s father was sentenced last year to a year in federal prison for illegally funneling money to his son’s congressional campaigns in 2010 and 2012, something Republicans are sure to revisit.
Carbajal, a freshman congressman, represents a large Central Coast district where Democrats held an eight-point advantage over Republicans among registered voters shortly before the election. But Republicans almost flipped the seat in 2014 during the last midterm elections, when Democrats tend to stay at home. Carbajal won his seat by six points, and starts off the 2018 cycle with a little more than $52,000 in the bank .
Clinton won Carbajal's district by 20 points.
Peters and Ruiz were both elected in 2012 and each has more than $1 million in cash on hand to fend off any new challengers.
Ruiz crushed his Republican challenger in 2016 by 24 points, claiming 62% of the vote. He was much more popular than Clinton, who won the district with 52% of the vote.
Peters beat his Republican challenger in 2016 with 56.5% of the vote while Clinton won 58% of the vote.
Democrats released a list of eight California Republicans they will target last month.