RIVERSIDE, California — As Republicans in competitive races across the country recalibrate their relationship with President Donald Trump, two Orange County incumbents forced into the same district are staking their political survival on proving unwavering loyalty to the president.

The loser of the intraparty clash between Reps. Ken Calvert (R-CA) and Young Kim (R-CA) will likely become one of the Republican casualties of California voters’ passage of Proposition 50, a 2025 ballot measure backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and state Democrats that aimed to further shrink GOP representation in an already deep-blue state. Democrats currently dominate California’s U.S. House delegation 43-9, and under district lines taking effect in the 2026 cycle, they could plausibly expand that advantage to 48 seats.