Second-term Republican Rep. Young Kim appears to be in a comfortable lead with Democrat Joe Kerr a distant second as early vote counts rolled in Tuesday night for the 40th congressional district race.
Democrat Allyson Muñiz Damikolas is also vying for the seat.
See the latest election results.
The top two vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party preference, will advance to the general election in November.
CA-40 is one of several Republican-held House districts that went for President Joe Biden in 2020. It includes Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo, Orange, Rancho Santa Margarita, Tustin, Villa Park and Yorba Linda in Orange County; Chino Hills in San Bernardino County; and Corona in Riverside County.
It’s also one of 31 House seats held by Republicans that the national Democratic Party’s campaign arm sees as a “key to winning a Democratic House majority,” but according to state data, Republicans account for the largest share of all the registered voters in the district, 38.1%, while 33.8% are Democrats and 21.9% are no party preference voters.
Without a Republican primary challenger and the added benefit of incumbency, Kim, who in 2020 became one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress, is expected to coast to the general election.
Her legislative priorities include lowering taxes, supporting veterans and securing the border. And as chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, she has introduced several measures that would crack down on China’s human rights violations.
Kerr, a second-generation firefighter who served with the Orange County Fire Authority and Orange County Fire Department for over three decades, said his focus this race is on public safety, keeping the government funded, protecting abortion access, addressing California’s wildfire and drought issues and working toward solutions for affordable housing and homelessness.
And Damikolas, president of the Tustin Unified School Board, says she wants to advocate, if elected, for affordable housing and healthcare, safety from gun violence and reproductive healthcare.
