Democrats are the wild card in House race between two SoCal Republicans

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Set us as preferred Democratic and independent voters could play the spoiler in a battle between two Republican incumbents vying for a solidly red congressional seat in Orange and Riverside counties.Thanks to redistricting, Reps.Ken Calvert of Corona and Young Kim of Anaheim are pitted against one another in Congressional District 40, a newly redrawn territory that consolidates Republican voters in an area stretching from Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita and Anaheim Hills in Orange County to Woodcrest, Menifee and Murrieta in Riverside County.Democratic leaders remade the district map as part of an overall effort to boost their party’s numbers in the U.S.

House of Representatives after President Trump cajoled Texas into carving out districts more favorable to Republicans.While considered deep red, District 40 still claims many Democratic and independent voters who could help sway the outcome.“The question is, who are the Democrats going to support?” said Jon Fleischman, former executive director of the California Republican Party.

He expects about half of the Democrats to not vote at all.Self-identifying conservatives make up 33% of the district compared with liberals’ 27%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.More independents lean Democratic (36%) than Republican (16%), according to the institute.Democrats, so far, seem less than enthusiastic about their choices.“I don’t care who wins in the 40th,” said Orange County Democratic Party Chair Florice Hoffman, who skipped voting in the race.

“They’re both two bad choices, so I will not spend any time telling Democrats to go out to vote for either one of them.”Kim may cast herself as a collaborative politician but if you look at her record, “she’s not any better than Ken Calvert.They both ran as 100% Trump — and really that’s how she votes,” said Hoffman, who lives in Orange.

Calvert topped the Ju...