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Republican Rep. Young Kim, the first Korean-American woman elected to Congress in 2020, fended off a challenge from Democratic Rep. Joe Carr, a former fire chief, to win a third term representing Inland Orange County in the U.S. House of Representatives. He won the election. .
The Associated Press called the race Thursday for California’s 40th Congressional District, but it will likely take more time before official results are available. Control of the House of Representatives remained too narrow to make a decision.
Kim said in a statement Thursday night that he intends to “be an independent voice, bring common sense to Washington and deliver results through bipartisanship.”
“There is much work to do to get our country back on track, and I am ready to return to Washington and continue fighting on behalf of our community,” she said.
The race for the 40th Congressional District, which includes some of Orange County’s most conservative cities and parts of Corona in Riverside County and Chino Hills in San Bernardino County, has been relatively low-profile for most of the election cycle. There wasn’t.
In past years, the Congressional Democratic Party’s campaign arm included the district on its list of seats that could change from red to blue.
But this year, the 40th Congressional District is not on the Democratic list and was deemed “likely Republican” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
President Biden narrowly won the district in 2020, but Republicans maintain a nearly 5 percentage point advantage in voter registration.
Kim, who was born in South Korea and lives in Anaheim Hills, served as a state representative and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2018, but was elected two years later. She focused her campaign on lowering taxes and increasing costs for middle-class families, a long-standing message for conservatives in Southern California that resonates with voters in suburban districts.
Mr. Carr spent 34 years as fire chief with the Orange County Fire Department and served as president of the Orange County Professional Firefighters Association, a union representing 800 firefighters, for 17 years. He ran for state senate in 2022 and unsuccessfully ran for the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2018.
Mr. Kerr could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
Much of Carr’s message focused on his time as a firefighter. In a recent ad, Carr pledged to help push for federal legislation to provide medical care for firefighters.
Mr. Kim raised $7.4 million for his campaign, while Mr. Carr raised just under $800,000, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
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