Democrats got some great news on Tuesday night, when their candidate took the lead in California’s 13th District, a seat Republicans currently hold.
As of Wednesday morning, Democrat Adam Gray now leads Republican incumbent John Duarte by 182 votes.
If the lead holds—and if they pick up the other uncalled seat where they currently lead—it would give Democrats 215 House seats, a net gain from the previous Congress. And it would make House Speaker Mike Johnson's life even more miserable than it already was slated to be, since he'd have one fewer vote to try to pass Donald Trump's destructive agenda.
For at least the first few months of the new Congress, Republicans would have just a 217-215 majority if they win the uncalled seat where they currently lead. That’s because Trump nominated Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Mike Waltz of Florida to his administration. Now-former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz—who resigned to try to bury what is believed to be a damning House Ethics Committee investigation into whether he sex-trafficked a minor in order to try to save his now-defunct quest to be attorney general—will also not be taking his seat in the 119th Congress.
That means Johnson would need to have every single Republican vote to pass bills, with just one defection or absence causing a vote to fail. That will be an extremely difficult task for Johnson, who presides over a fractious conference filled with right-wing lunatics who vote “no” on even must-pass government funding legislation over their demand for ideological purity.
“My goodness gracious: the GOP's House Majority looks to be the smallest after any election since 1930 with current results,” CNN’s Harry Enten wrote in a Wednesday post on X. “With resignations (e.g. Gaetz), it may be the smallest majority during a House session in 100+ yrs. Just 1 GOP defection + All Dems could sink a bill.”
Of course, the race hasn’t been called yet. There are still a few votes to count in the district—a sprawling seat located in the San Joaquin Valley.
But it looks like the ballots from the Republican strongholds in the district are exhausted, which would make it difficult for Duarte to win. Election experts say Gray is now favored to win here. The seat was a major pickup opportunity for Democrats given that Joe Biden won in the district by 11 percentage points in 2020.
Republicans are so incensed that Duarte may lose his seat after just one term that they are baselessly claiming fraud—their go-to excuse when Republicans lose.
“Congressman John Duarte was winning but after 22 days of counting ballots he is now losing by 105 votes. Democrats are stealing another House seat!” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote in a post on X. “Elections nationwide should be one day, paper ballots, and require proof of citizenship with ID!!”
There is obviously zero evidence that Democrats stole Duarte’s House seats.
Sure, it’s absurd how long it’s taking for California to count ballots. But just because it’s taking forever does not mean there is something untoward going on.
It’s also interesting that Greene thinks Democrats would steal a random House seat but not rig it for Vice President Kamala Harris. But common sense is obviously too difficult for Greene to process in her cobweb-filled skull.
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