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Battleground Friday: California's 36th Congressional District
By the Congress team
In the next profile of our 2014 battleground districts, Ballotpedia is taking an in-depth look at California's 36th Congressional District's 2014 election.
Current incumbent: Raul Ruiz (D) was first elected to the House in 2012 and has no prior political experience.[3]
Ruiz is a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Frontline Program. The program is designed to help protect vulnerable Democratic incumbents heading into the 2014 election.[4] According to a Washington Post article in December 2012, Ruiz is one of the 10 most vulnerable incumbents in 2014.[5]
2012 MOV: Ruiz won the seat in 2012 with a margin of victory of 5.8% over incumbent Mary Bono Mack (R). The two candidates were separated by 12,236 votes.
2014 candidates: There are two Republican candidates challenging Ruiz for the seat, Ray Haynes and Brian Nestande. Haynes is a former member of the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. He served in the Assembly from 1993 to 1995 and again from 2003 to 2007, and he served in the Senate from 1995 to 2002. Nestande is a current member of the State Assembly and has served since 2008. The National Republican Congressional Committee added Nestande to their "On the Radar" list in November 2013. According to the NRCC, candidates that make this list receive "...the tools they need to run successful, winning campaigns against their Democratic opponents."[6]
What made it a Ballotpedia battleground district?: The district has very close to even numbers of Democratic and Republican voters. Cook's PVI shows the district as R+1, while Fairvote rates the district as 51.2% Democratic. The district was won by President Barack Obama by 3.2% in 2012 and 3% in 2008. Additionally, incumbent Raul Ruiz is a freshman representative.
FEC: First-Quarter reports from 2014 from the Federal Election Commission show incumbent Raul Ruiz with a significant fundraising advantage over his Republican challengers. He raised a total of $1,936,487 this cycle and is sitting on $1,516,641 cash on hand.[7] Nestande comes in second with contributions totaling $596,728 and $322,741 cash on hand.[8] Haynes has only raised a total of $14,761 and reports no cash on hand.[9]
- The information above was compiled following the California candidate filing deadline. Please find all further updates on the 36th District's election page.
| California's 36th Congressional District | |
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Population: 713,166 | |
See also
- U.S. House battleground districts, 2014
- California's 36th Congressional District
- California's 36th Congressional District elections, 2014
- Raul Ruiz
Footnotes
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 HOUSE RACE RATINGS FOR June 26, 2014," accessed July 28, 2014
- ↑ Sabato's Crystal Ball, "2014 House Races," accessed July 28, 2014
- ↑ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Raul Ruiz," accessed June 14, 2013
- ↑ Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, "DCCC Chairman Steve Israel Announces 2013-2014 Frontline Members," accessed March 5, 2013
- ↑ Washington Post, "House Democrats Face Long Odds in 2014," accessed December 7, 2012
- ↑ Roll Call, "House Republicans Put 36 Recruits ‘On the Radar’," accessed November 21, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Raul Ruiz April Quarterly," accessed April 18, 2014
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Brian Nestande April Quarterly," accessed April 18, 2014
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Ray Haynes April Quarterly," accessed April 18, 2014
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