WASHINGTON — Friday was the first day on the job for California’s nine new members of Congress, as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) narrowly won re-election after nearly losing in the first round. Their first job involved a typical parliamentary disruption. vote.
The nine new House members, all Democrats, including three who flipped Republican seats, voted for Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. But Mr Johnson, who has been speaker of parliament since autumn 2023, emerged victorious.
California, a Democratic stronghold on the West Coast, has a number of Democratic leaders in Congress. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) serve as House Democratic Caucus Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively.
But the state has lost a number of influential figures in recent years, as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) resigned as House speaker and passed the leadership torch to Mr. Jeffries. Although Pelosi no longer holds a formal leadership position, she remains a powerful figure among her colleagues in Congress. Pelosi, who is still recovering from hip surgery, smiled and hugged Jeffries on the House floor Friday after voting for him as speaker.
Bakersfield Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who served as Speaker of the House before his historic ouster, left Congress in 2023. The party’s longtime leader, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, died in 2023. And after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential election, California no longer has a party leader. White House.
Still, as the nation’s most populous state, California has the most delegates in the House of Representatives, with 52 delegates, but as the 2020 Census showed a population decline, The number has decreased by one. On Friday afternoon, nine Californians were officially sworn in to serve in the 119th Congress.
California’s newest representatives are:
Rep. Derek Tran (D-Garden Grove): Mr. Tran won a close election against two-term Republican incumbent Rep. Michelle Steele for Orange County’s 45th Congressional District seat. Steele himself flipped the seat from Democrat Katie Porter in 2020.
Rep. David Minn (D-Irvine): Mr. Porter represents the 47th Congressional District after redistricting. But when he decided to run for an unsuccessful Senate seat, Min, then a state senator, ran and won the seat, putting it in Democratic control.
Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Covina): Cisneros is a well-known name in California politics, having previously served as a congressman in another congressional district. He easily won the safe Democratic San Gabriel Valley district, replacing retiring Congresswoman Grace Napolitano.
Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale): A former congresswoman, Friedman now takes over the seat long held by Adam B. Schiff, who easily won California’s open Senate seat in central Los Angeles County. is the representative of
Rep. Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood): A former California state legislator and nonprofit leader, Rivas easily won the Democratic 29th Congressional District, representing the San Fernando Valley.
Rep. George Whiteside (D-Agua Dulce): Whiteside replaced Rep. Mike Garcia, flipping the northeast Los Angeles County seat from red to blue.
Rep. Adam Gray (D-Merced): The race in the Central Valley’s 13th Congressional District is the last election to be called in the country, as Mr. Gray takes the seat from Republican Rep. John Duarte. It became. Gray, a former state representative, pitched himself as a centrist Democrat to win the support of the Central Valley’s largely agricultural population.
Congressman Sam Liccardo (D-San Jose): Mr. Liccardo is a former mayor of San Jose and represents the Bay Area in Congress.
Rep. Latifa Simon (D-Oakland): Simon will take over the seat vacated by longtime Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who lost her Senate primary.
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