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California's 7th Congressional District election, 2018

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General election

General election for U.S. House California District 7

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ami Bera
Ami Bera (D)
 
55.0
 
155,016
Image of Andrew Grant
Andrew Grant (R)
 
45.0
 
126,601

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 281,617
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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California's 7th Congressional District
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Top-two primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 9, 2018
Primary: June 5, 2018
General: November 6, 2018
Pre-election incumbent:
Ami Bera (Democrat)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voting in California
Race ratings
Cook Partisan Voter Index (2018): D+3
Cook Political Report: Likely Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2018
See also
California's 7th Congressional District
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California elections, 2018
U.S. Congress elections, 2018
U.S. Senate elections, 2018
U.S. House elections, 2018

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 7th Congressional District of California, held elections in 2018.

Heading into the election the incumbent was Ami Bera (D), who was first elected in 2012.

Although former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) carried Bera's district in the 2016 presidential election, 52 percent to 41 percent over President Donald Trump, Bera narrowly won his seat by two points.[1]

The National Republican Congressional Committee identified Republican contender Andrew Grant as one of 31 "On the Radar" U.S. House candidates with the potential to perform well in a competitive race.[2]Grant raised approximately $165,000 in the third quarter of 2017, nearly half of Bera's $290,000 haul over the same time period.[3]

California's 7th Congressional District is located in the central portion of the state and includes much of Sacramento County.[4]



Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 7

Incumbent Ami Bera defeated Andrew Grant in the general election for U.S. House California District 7 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ami Bera
Ami Bera (D)
 
55.0
 
155,016
Image of Andrew Grant
Andrew Grant (R)
 
45.0
 
126,601

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 281,617
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 7

Incumbent Ami Bera and Andrew Grant defeated Yona Barash, Chris Richardson, and Reginald Claytor in the primary for U.S. House California District 7 on June 5, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ami Bera
Ami Bera (D)
 
51.7
 
84,776
✔
Image of Andrew Grant
Andrew Grant (R)
 
31.2
 
51,221
Image of Yona Barash
Yona Barash (R)
 
13.9
 
22,845
Image of Chris Richardson
Chris Richardson (G)
 
1.9
 
3,183
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Reginald Claytor (Independent)
 
1.3
 
2,095

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.

Total votes: 164,120
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+3, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 3 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made California's 7th Congressional District the 180th most Democratic nationally.[5]

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.90. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.90 points toward that party.[6]

Race background

California's 7th District was listed as one of the NRCC's initial targets in 2018.[7]

Incumbent Ami Bera was included as one of the initial members of the DCCC's Frontline Program in 2018.[8]

Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Ami Bera Democratic Party $2,960,892 $1,769,090 $1,324,713 As of December 31, 2018
Andrew Grant Republican Party $566,014 $549,841 $16,173 As of December 31, 2018

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2018. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.


District history

2016

See also: California's 7th Congressional District election, 2016

California's 7th Congressional District was a battleground district in 2016. Incumbent Ami Bera (D) won re-election to his third term in 2016. He defeated Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones (R) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Both candidates advanced past the top-two primary without competition, as they were the only two to file in the race.[9][10][11]

U.S. House, California District 7 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngAmi Bera Incumbent 51.2% 152,133
     Republican Scott Jones 48.8% 145,168
Total Votes 297,301
Source: California Secretary of State


U.S. House, California District 7 Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngAmi Bera Incumbent 54% 93,506
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngScott Jones 46% 79,640
Total Votes 173,146
Source: California Secretary of State

2014

See also: California's 7th Congressional District elections, 2014

California's 7th Congressional District was a battleground district in 2014 due to the low margin of victory for Democrats in the last election and last two presidential elections. Incumbent Ami Bera (D) and Doug Ose (R) triumphed in the blanket primary over Igor Birman (R), Elizabeth Emken (R), Douglas Arthur Tuma (L) and Phill Tufi (I). Bera then narrowly defeated Ose in the general election.[12][13]

U.S. House, California District 7 General Election, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngAmi Bera Incumbent 50.4% 92,521
     Republican Doug Ose 49.6% 91,066
Total Votes 183,587
Source: California Secretary of State

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

There are no Pivot Counties in California. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won California with 61.7 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 31.6 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, California voted Republican 53.33 percent of the time and Democratic 43.33 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, California voted Democratic all five times. In 2016, California had 55 electoral votes, which was the most of any state. The 55 electoral votes were 10.2 percent of all 538 available electoral votes and were 20.4 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state Assembly districts in California. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[14][15]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 58 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 38.4 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 66 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 40.3 points. Clinton won 11 districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 22 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 12.2 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 14 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 13 points.

State overview

Partisan control

This section details the partisan control of federal and state positions in California heading into the 2018 elections.

Congressional delegation

State executives

  • As of May 2018, Democrats held seven of 10 state executive positions and the remaining three positions were officially nonpartisan.
  • The governor of California was Democrat Jerry Brown.

State legislature

  • Democrats controlled both chambers of the California State Legislature. They had a 55-25 majority in the state Assembly and a 27-13 majority in the state Senate.

Trifecta status

  • California was a state government trifecta, meaning that Democrats held the governorship and majorities in the state house and state senate.

2018 elections

See also: California elections, 2018

California held elections for the following positions in 2018:

Demographics

Demographic data for California
 CaliforniaU.S.
Total population:38,993,940316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):155,7793,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:61.8%73.6%
Black/African American:5.9%12.6%
Asian:13.7%5.1%
Native American:0.7%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.4%0.2%
Two or more:4.5%3%
Hispanic/Latino:38.4%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:81.8%86.7%
College graduation rate:31.4%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$61,818$53,889
Persons below poverty level:18.2%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in California.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

As of July 2016, California had a population of approximately 39,000,000 people, with its three largest cities being Los Angeles (pop. est. 4.0 million), San Diego (pop. est. 1.4 million), and San Jose (pop. est. 1 million).[16][17]

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in California from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the California Secretary of State.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in California every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), California 2000-2016
Year First-place candidate First-place candidate votes (%) Second-place candidate Second-place candidate votes (%) Margin of victory (%)
2016 Democratic Party Hillary Clinton 61.7% Republican Party Donald Trump 31.6% 30.1%
2012 Democratic Party Barack Obama 60.2% Republican Party Mitt Romney 37.1% 23.1%
2008 Democratic Party Barack Obama 61.1% Republican Party John McCain 37% 24.1%
2004 Democratic Party John Kerry 54.4% Republican Party George W. Bush 44.4% 10%
2000 Democratic Party Al Gore 53.5% Republican Party George W. Bush 41.7% 11.8%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in California from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), California 2000-2016
Year First-place candidate First-place candidate votes (%) Second-place candidate Second-place candidate votes (%) Margin of victory (%)
2016 Democratic Party Kamala Harris 61.6% Democratic Party Loretta Sanchez 38.4% 23.2%
2012 Democratic Party Dianne Feinstein 62.5% Republican Party Elizabeth Emken 37.5% 25%
2010 Democratic Party Barbara Boxer 52.2% Republican Party Carly Fiorina 42.2% 10%
2006 Democratic Party Dianne Feinstein 59.5% Republican Party Richard Mountjoy 35.1% 24.4%
2004 Democratic Party Barbara Boxer 57.8% Republican Party Bill Jones 37.8% 20%
2000 Democratic Party Dianne Feinstein 55.9% Republican Party Tom Campbell 36.6% 19.3%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in California.

Election results (Governor), California 2000-2016
Year First-place candidate First-place candidate votes (%) Second-place candidate Second-place candidate votes (%) Margin of victory (%)
2014 Democratic Party Jerry Brown 60% Republican Party Neel Kashkari 40% 20%
2010 Democratic Party Jerry Brown 53.8% Republican Party Meg Whitman 40.9% 12.9%
2006 Republican Party Arnold Schwarzenegger 55.9% Democratic Party Phil Angelides 39.0% 16.9%
2002 Democratic Party Gray Davis 47.3% Republican Party Bill Simon 42.4% 4.9%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent California in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, California 2000-2016
Year Democrats Democrats (%) Republicans Republicans (%) Balance of power
2016 Democratic Party 39 73.5% Republican Party 14 26.4% D+25
2014 Democratic Party 39 73.5% Republican Party 14 26.4% D+25
2012 Democratic Party 38 71.7% Republican Party 15 28.3% D+23
2010 Democratic Party 34 64.1% Republican Party 19 35.8% D+15
2008 Democratic Party 34 64.1% Republican Party 19 35.8% D+15
2006 Democratic Party 34 64.1% Republican Party 19 35.8% D+15
2004 Democratic Party 33 62.3% Republican Party 20 37.7% D+13
2002 Democratic Party 33 62.3% Republican Party 20 37.7% D+13
2000 Democratic Party 32 61.5% Republican Party 20 38.5% D+12

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

California Party Control: 1992-2025
Twenty years with Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor R R R R R R R D D D D D R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Assembly D D D S R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Daily Kos, "Morning Digest: Putin's favorite congressman not finding many rubles in the banana stand," October 24, 2017
  2. ↑ GOP Young Guns, "On the Radar," accessed November 8, 2017
  3. ↑ Politico, "House Q3 FEC Reports, accessed November 8, 2017
  4. ↑ California Redistricting Map, "Map," accessed September 25, 2012
  5. ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
  6. ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
  7. ↑ Politico, "House Republicans name Democratic targets for 2018," February 8, 2017
  8. ↑ Roll Call, "Democrats Identify Vulnerable Members for 2018," March 6, 2017
  9. ↑ The Sacramento Bee, " Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones plans 2016 challenge of Democratic Rep. Ami Bera," November 13, 2015
  10. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Certified List of Candidates for Voter-Nominated Offices June 7, 2016, Presidential Primary Election," accessed April 4, 2016
  11. ↑ The New York Times, "California Primary Results," June 7, 2016
  12. ↑ The New York Times, "California Primary Results," June 3, 2014
  13. ↑ The Sacramento Bee, "Bera beats Ose in high-priced congressional race," November 19, 2014
  14. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
  15. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017
  16. ↑ California Demographics, "California Cities by Population," accessed April 2, 2018
  17. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "Quickfacts California," accessed April 2, 2018
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California's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Alex Padilla (D)
Adam Schiff (D)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
Ami Bera (D)
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
Adam Gray (D)
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
Ro Khanna (D)
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
Jim Costa (D)
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
Raul Ruiz (D)
District 26
District 27
District 28
Judy Chu (D)
District 29
Luz Rivas (D)
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
District 35
District 36
Ted Lieu (D)
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
Young Kim (R)
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44
District 45
District 46
District 47
Dave Min (D)
District 48
District 49
District 50
District 51
District 52
Democratic Party (45)
Republican Party (9)

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