SANTA ANA, Calif._Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has lost the congressional seat he held for 30 years, another stunning defeat for Republicans as other GOP incumbents fell behind in the latest ballot counts, putting the party in fear of losing all six tightly-contested House races in California.
The loss was projected on Saturday by the Associated Press. But Dale Neugebauer, a spokesman for Rohrabacher, noted there remained more than 300,000 ballots left to be tallied in Orange County. He said the campaign would have an official statement once the count was complete.
Democrat Harley Rouda declared victory Saturday morning, saying he was "deeply humbled and honored to have the opportunity to serve."
The real estate entrepreneur's win came after two decades of erosion in the Republican base and a time when Rohrabacher's friendliness to people with links to Russia has become more controversial. California Republicans have already lost two of six hotly contested races in the state and have fallen behind in three of the last unresolved races, as suburban voters nationwide rebuked President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress.
Democrats have won the seats of GOP Reps. Darrell Issa of Vista, who declined to seek re-election, and Steve Knight of Palmdale, who was ousted by Democrat Katie Hill. On Friday, Democrat Josh Harder overtook Republican Rep. Jeff Denham in the latest ballot count for his Central Valley district in the Modesto area.
In two other races, GOP Rep. Mimi Walters, who represents the Irvine area, and Republican candidate Young Kim of Fullerton are holding razor-thin leads over their Democratic opponents, who have gained ground with each updated ballot count.
"This is more than just a bad year," said Mike Madrid, a GOP political strategist. "This is essentially a realignment in California politics, and the traditional base that has served the Republican party no longer exists."
As Orange County on Saturday released a total of nearly 24,000 votes spanning three unresolved congressional races, Rouda's lead over Rohrabacher in the 48th Congressional District grew to more than 8,500.
Walters has seen her election-night lead of 6,233 votes plummet to 2,009 in her race against Democrat Katie Porter. Kim's lead against Democrat Gil Cisneros has shrunk from 3,879 to 2,423 votes in a majority-minority congressional district containing pieces of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
Madrid said "a clean sweep" of GOP incumbents was possible. He said he expects the party to see worse results in 2020 because it didn't have "leadership with the strength and the foresight to get us out of this."
Dave Wasserman, the U.S. House editor for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which has tracked congressional races nationwide for decades, noted the irony in the type of GOP incumbents at risk of losing their seats.
Rep. Devin Nunes and Rep. Duncan Hunter, both President Trump allies and Democrats' archenemies _ the latter under criminal indictment _ "will easily survive, while many of the Trump-skeptic House Rs likeliest to collaborate w/ Dems just got kicked out," he tweeted.
Democrats have been cautious about declaring victory but on Saturday were optimistic. Historically, votes tallied latest in the state have tended to skew Democratic. Andrew Acosta, a Democratic strategist in Sacramento, on Saturday called the incoming ballot counts a "slow-moving train wreck" for Republicans.
"I believe Mimi Walters and Young Kim are breathing a little easier but it is not done yet," Scott said. "Count the ballots before you spike ball."
Denham on Friday fell 3,362 votes behind Harder after leading the Democrat by 1 percentage point in a district spanning Stanislaus County and southern San Joaquin County. Harder called the latest results "extremely encouraging."
San Joaquin County, where 91,7000 ballots remain uncounted, is expected to release its next round of results on Tuesday. Stanislaus County elections officials plan to tally all their remaining uncounted ballots _ roughly 20,000 _ before releasing more results.
"If the trend continues, I will work every single day in Congress to put the Central Valley first," said Harder, who had volunteers from across the state pour into his district in the final days of the election to knock on doors and get out the vote.
