In the state of California, the Republican party has so far flipped two House seats. In California’s 39th congressional district, Republican candidate Young Kim unseated Democrat incumbent Gil Cisneros in a tight race.
Kim came on top of Cisneros with slightly more than 4,000 votes, and Cisneros conceded to Kim on Friday. The district voted for Republican candidates from 2012 to 2016 but flipped blue in 2018.
This victory comes after Republican Michelle Steel defeated her Democratic incumbent in the 49th congressional district last week. Both districts are based in Orange County, and both women are immigrants from South Korea.
Both districts 39 and 49 were one of the seven seats in California that the GOP lost to the Democrats in 2018. California still has two house races yet to be called, in districts 21 and 25. Republican candidates are leading in both districts.
In addition to the victory in California, Republicans were also able to flip the 4th congressional district in Utah, which mainly covers Salt Lake City. Republican candidate Burgess Owens unseated Democratic incumbent Ben McAdams on Monday, taking back a seat the GOP lost to the Democrats by less than 700 votes in 2018.
In this year’s house races, Republicans have flipped at least 11 seats so far, with gains made in swing states such as Florida and in blue states such as California and New York. With a net gain of 8 seats, the GOP is currently at 206 seats in the house, as opposed to the Democratic Party’s 220 seats. According to Decision Desk HQ, 9 seats have yet to be called or projected, and Republicans are leading in 7 of them.
