UPDATE: The address list for this campaign has been completed.
Campaign #198 is for Christy Smith for Congress in CA
Our 198th postcarding campaign is for a Special Election to fill a Congressional vacancy.
On May 12, 2020, the 25th Congressional District in Southern California will be holding a special election to fill the seat vacated by Democrat Katie Hill, who resigned last October.
Although the circumstances are not ideal, the seat is still in play for Democrats. Historically, the 25th has been a conservative district – in fact, Hill’s seat was held by Republicans for the previous two decades before she flipped it in 2018. (Postcards to Voters volunteers like you wrote tens of thousands of election reminders that cycle for her.) But, prior to her resignation, she had a high approval rating among her constituents and her re-election seemed certain.
About Christy
The Democratic candidate in May’s election is Christy Smith, a first-term member of the California State Assembly. She is well-known and well-regarded in the area. Like Hill, she also flipped her seat in the 2018 Assembly race, which had been Republican for the previous four decades!
Christy is a centrist, pragmatic Democrat who has been endorsed by the Los Angeles Times for her common-sense approach to government. According to the Times, after just one year in the Assembly, Smith already “has distinguished herself as an elected official more interested in pushing good policy than playing politics.” The article adds, “Smith’s appeal is that she spends her time crafting policy and working with colleagues to get it passed.”
Her Opponent
Her Republican opponent is Mike Garcia, a businessman and former U.S. Navy fighter pilot. Because Garcia has never held public office, he has no voting record and little is known about his actual policy positions. Nonetheless, it is safe to assume he will push hard against any expansion to the social safety net, as his website includes fighting so-called “socialism and taxes” as among his primary issues.
One thing that we do know about Garcia is that he is not afraid to go negative. He issued a press release in which he went out of his way to paint Smith as a scary, radical socialist despite her well established bona-fides as a moderate.
From the San Diego Union Tribune
“The district was long considered GOP terrain before Hill’s victory and like much of California, it has been growing gradually more Democratic in voter registration. Democrats hold a 6-point registration edge in the district, which runs through northern Los Angeles County but also takes in a GOP-rich pocket in Ventura County, including the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. In a telling sign of change, Hillary Clinton carried the district by nearly 7 points in the 2016 presidential election. Two years later, Hill claimed what was then the last Republican-held House seat anchored in Los Angeles County with a 9-point win. Of the state’s 53 congressional seats, only six are held by the GOP, with two vacancies, including the 25th District.”
With so much at stake this year, let’s make sure Democratic voters in the 25th keep their eyes open for the mail-in ballots which will begin arriving soon. Your fun, friendly notes to vote can – in an election where it will be 100% vote by mail – make a winning difference.
Write on! ~Tony The Democrat
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