Whitesides captures LA County’s congressional seat, a big win for Democrats

Democrat George Whitesides, a former NASA chief of staff and first-time candidate, will represent northern Los Angeles County in Congress next year after defeating Republican Rep. Mike Garcia in one of the country’s most competitive House races.

Garcia conceded defeat in a statement released Monday evening.

“In Congress, you can count on me to fight to create more good local jobs, reduce everyday costs, build safe communities, protect Social Security and Medicare, and protect reproductive freedom,” Whitesides said in a statement statement published on social media.

The Whitesides’ narrow victory is a bright spot for Democrats amid a decisive rightward shift in American politics, with voters sending President-elect Donald Trump back to the White House and Republicans wresting control of the U.S. Senate from Democrats. It’s likely Republicans will retain control of the House, but that remains unclear and Democrats could face a long road to taking power.

“I will always seek to serve and be available to this wonderful nation in every way possible to preserve its splendor, the security of its people and the protection of its future,” Garcia said in his statement.

The race between Garcia and Whitesides to represent California’s 27th Congressional District was considered a back-and-forth affair and was closely watched across the country as one of several districts that could help determine which party wins control of the House.

The once staunchly conservative district — which stretches from Santa Clarita to the Kern County line and includes the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale — has become more favorable to Democrats in recent years, whose growing voter registration lead has made three-time elected Garcia one of the Most elected districts made vulnerable Republican incumbents in the country.

Redistricting after the 2020 Census made the district bluer by carving out conservative Simi Valley. Just over 41% of registered voters are Democrats and about 30% are Republicans. More than a fifth are independents.

Garcia, a former Marine pilot and former executive at defense contractor Raytheon, first won his seat in a special election in 2020 after Katie Hill — a millennial Democrat who unseated a Republican incumbent in 2018 — resigned amid a sex scandal.

Garcia retained his seat in two consecutive elections. In all three elections, he defeated the same Democratic rival, former Rep. Christy Smith.

Whitesides – the wealthy former CEO of Mojave-based Virgin Galactic who loaned his campaign more than $1 million – had major support from the Democratic Party, which did not support Smith as much. The top Democrat in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, came to the Antelope Valley last month to campaign for the Whitesides, a sign of the race’s importance to the national party.

Whitesides advocated for reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as job creation and increased funding for law enforcement. He called Garcia a pro-Trump sycophant and highlighted the congressman’s vote against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election following the January 6, 2021 insurrection and his push to overturn Roe v. Wade.

As a first-time candidate, Whitesides had no voting record to examine. So Garcia focused on his opponent’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to progressive candidates and causes, trying to portray him as a far-left megadonor who used his personal wealth to buy a seat in Congress.

Garcia focused heavily on the high cost of living and gasoline in California — a powerful message in a county where many residents drawn to cheaper housing have to commute two hours or more to work in Los Angeles.

Garcia, the son of a Mexican immigrant who moved to the U.S. in 1959, also echoed the Republican Party’s message of strengthening immigration control along the southern border.

At a summer town hall in Santa Clarita, he said his late father “came here legally” and “did it right” and that illegal immigration was one of the country’s biggest threats. In Congress, he voted against creating a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers who were brought to the U.S. as children.