Rep. Mike Garcia, a California Republican who in May flipped a previously Democrat-held district in a special election, is in good shape to win a full term in November, according to a poll.
The internal Republican poll shows residents of the district, which spans northern Los Angeles County and a bit of neighboring Ventura County, seem to prefer Garcia, who emerged from a special election to fill the seat vacated last November by former Rep. Katie Hill, a Democrat.
.
Garcia faced off against Democrat Christy Smith in May and won 10% more voters than his opponent. He now leads her by 7% in the recently released poll of 400 likely voters from the district.
The survey, which is the first released since the two competed previously, was conducted between July 26-28.
Republicans previously held the district for more than two decades, largely by then-GOP Rep. Buck McKeon and then for two terms by his Republican successor, Steve Knight. But Knight lost by 7 points to Hill, a first-time candidate in 2018 during the Democratic “blue wave” midterm election.
However, last October, Hill was forced to resign after leaked naked photos with a former campaign aide appeared online and a sex scandal followed.
Democrats tapped Smith, a former California Department of Education official who raised $2 million in 2018 to flip a GOP state Assembly seat, to defend the district in May but to no avail.
Republicans who nominated Garcia, the son of a Mexican immigrant who attended the United States Naval Academy, touted his win as the first GOP House seat picked up in California since 1998. Democrats, meanwhile, are counting on a ticket led by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to carry down-ballot candidates across the finish line.
