Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez has prevailed over former prosecutor David Kim in an unexpectedly competitive intra-party race that the Associated Press waited more than a week to call. With most votes counted, Gomez led Kim just 53-47, despite outraising him $1.3 million to just $179,000 as of mid-October.
Kim ran on an explicitly left-wing platform and benefited from an endorsement from former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who helped popularize the idea of a universal basic income that Kim vocally supported. He relied on a large volunteer corps to make up his financial deficit and attacked Gomez for accepting campaign donations from the private prison industry and fossil fuel companies.
Kim may have also benefited from the sizable Korean American population in California's 34th District, dark blue turf located in downtown Los Angeles that includes the neighborhood known as Koreatown. Around 43% of the district traces its origins to Mexico, as Gomez does, while about 8% are of Korean ancestry, making this the most heavily Korean American district in the country. As political analyst Rob Pyers concluded, "The Koreatown precincts made the special election in 2017 closer than most people had anticipated." Gomez, the establishment favorite, won that race by a relatively modest 59-41 against fellow Democrat Robert Lee Ahn, who was also Korean American.
We could in fact see another special election for this seat soon: Politico recently reported that Gomez, who "secured more robust labor provisions" in the trade agreement that succeeded NAFTA, could be Joe Biden's choice for U.S. trade representative. In a statement conceding the election, Kim left open the possibility that he could run once more, saying, "This is only the start of something big and something bold."