{"id":73403,"date":"2025-11-28T17:34:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T17:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/73403\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T17:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T17:34:07","slug":"democratic-rep-robert-garcia-of-long-beach-could-represent-conservative-orange-county-cities-if-reelected-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/73403\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach could represent conservative Orange County cities if reelected \u2013 Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A day after California voters passed Proposition 50<\/a>, Rep. Robert Garcia<\/a>, a Democrat from Long Beach<\/a> whose district stands to gain more Republican voters than any other House member under the new congressional maps, pledged to represent all constituents in what will be California\u2019s new 42nd Congressional District if he\u2019s reelected.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of political parties \u2014 I\u2019ll represent everyone. And there\u2019s great people and neighborhoods all across the new district,\u201d Garcia wrote in a Nov. 5 social media post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, November 25, 2025. Garcia will seek reelection next year in a district that will look vastly different than today due to redistricting. If reelected, the liberal progressive would represent communities in Orange County that are more conservative than what he\u2019s used to representing, including Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

The hoopla surrounding the 42nd Congressional District isn\u2019t just that Garcia will be running in an area that will look vastly different from what it does today.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that the openly gay, progressive liberal who, up to this point, has represented a heavily Democratic district in deep-blue Los Angeles County, would be the lawmaker for some of Orange County\u2019s most conservative coastal communities, including Huntington Beach<\/a> and part of Newport Beach, if reelected.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Huntington Beach City Council voted to allow only government and various military flags to fly on city-owned property. Critics viewed the ban on non-government banners as a way to keep the Pride flag \u2014 a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community \u2014 from being displayed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And the city, where all seven City Council members are Republicans, is also where President Donald Trump<\/a> received over 9,500 more votes than former Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a> during last year\u2019s presidential election, according to the California secretary of state\u2019s office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump also won in Newport Beach, where he received over 8,300 more votes than Harris last year. (Trump ultimately lost not only California but also Orange County as a whole in 2024<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Garcia, on the other hand, has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration. As the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee<\/a>, he\u2019s relentlessly pursued the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files<\/a>. And just this week, he led a congressional hearing into alleged misconduct by federal immigration agents<\/a> carrying out Trump\u2019s mass deportation policy.<\/p>\n

Although voters in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach tend to be more conservative than Long Beach, Garcia said there are still plenty of people who care about issues that he also finds important.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there\u2019s a lot more conservative folks here,\u201d Garcia acknowledged over a lunch of salmon fish tacos and iced tea at Duke\u2019s restaurant in Huntington Beach this week. \u201cThere\u2019s also a ton of Democrats and progressives here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd,\u201d Garcia continued, \u201cthere\u2019s a ton of people that are independent that oppose Donald Trump\u2019s plan to open up the Huntington Beach coast, the Newport (Beach) coast, the Seal Beach coast to new oil rigs<\/a>. Those are issues that we\u2019re going to hopefully find common ground on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, the 42nd Congressional District, which Garcia was first elected to represent in 2022<\/a>, lies entirely within L.A. County. It stretches north from Long Beach and includes some communities in southeast L.A. County, including Lakewood, Downey and Huntington Park.<\/p>\n

But under the new map expected to take effect with next year\u2019s midterm elections, the district would lose those communities in southeast L.A. County and instead swing south, picking up at least portions of Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa in Orange County.<\/p>\n

\"California'sCalifornia\u2019s 42nd Congressional District: This coastal district would put Huntington Beach and Newport Beach in Orange County into the same district as L.A. County\u2019s Long Beach. Registered Democrats would make up 40% of the voters in this proposed district, along with 30% Republicans and 28% no party preference\/other. Rep. Robert Garcia currently represents this district. (Courtesy of DCCC)<\/p>\n

The current 42nd Congressional District includes 53% registered Democratic voters as well as 18% Republican voters and 23% no party preference or other. With next year\u2019s changes, the district will include 40% registered Democratic voters, 30% Republican and 28% no party preference or other.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that the Orange County cities that will be folded into the 42nd Congressional District haven\u2019t been represented by a Democrat before.<\/p>\n

Their current congressmember, Rep. Dave Min<\/a> of Irvine, is a Democrat. So was Katie Porter<\/a>, who served before Min.<\/p>\n

But as Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns puts it: Porter and Min were elected based on a congressional map drawn by an independent redistricting commission and under a nonpartisan system that California voters previously approved.<\/p>\n

Yet that\u2019s just one issue Burns has about Huntington Beach possibly being represented by Garcia under the new map. He\u2019s also worried that Garcia\u2019s ideas for the city won\u2019t align with what residents truly want.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> and other Democrats proposed a mid-decade redistricting effort to position California Democrats to pick up five additional House seats in the 2026 midterm elections as a counter to similar gerrymandering efforts by GOP-led states.<\/p>\n

That effort led to voters adopting new, gerrymandered maps for California in a special election a few weeks ago. The maps are being challenged in court as unconstitutional by California Republicans<\/a> and the U.S. Department of Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Republicans in some of Orange County\u2019s more conservative, lower-density communities continue to balk at the idea of being lumped into the same district as Long Beach, a much more liberal, urban community in L.A. County.<\/p>\n

Garcia is well aware that his political views and the views of some of his potentially new constituents won\u2019t always line up.<\/p>\n

His strategy is to find areas of common interest upon which he\u2019d advocate for, such as coastal preservation, investments in infrastructure and support for small local businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not always going to agree on every issue, and that\u2019s fine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But, Garcia said, \u201cI want Huntington Beach, Newport, Seal, communities on the coast to look back and say, \u2018Damn, Robert Garcia is bringing us more federal resources to help our budgets than anyone we\u2019ve ever had,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem Casey McKeon, who will be sworn in as mayor next week, said many residents in the city remain skeptical about representation under the new congressional maps.<\/p>\n

He did not want to speculate who would win the 42nd Congressional District race next year but said he\u2019s willing to keep an open mind should Garcia be elected to represent Huntington Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who the representative is,\u201d said McKeon. \u201cWe would expect our congressional representative to work on projects that affect Huntington Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, he hopes whoever is elected to represent the city after the midterm elections will advocate for federal funding for sand replenishment<\/a> projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t matter (the) political lines,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope to have a good relationship with our representative in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burns, the outgoing mayor of Huntington Beach, is wary that being lumped into the same congressional district as Long Beach will mean that voters there will overshadow those from smaller communities and likely elect someone with a more urban mindset.<\/p>\n

Long Beach is the seventh most populous city in California, with some neighborhoods boasting mid-rise and high-rise apartments and condos. That sort of high-density living is a stark contrast to Huntington Beach, Burns said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong Beach is quite different,\u201d Burns said. \u201cIs he (Garcia) going to represent us in a Huntington Beach manner, or does he have his own ideals of what he thinks Huntington Beach should be? We\u2019re obviously more conservative than he has shown. Hopefully, he will be respectful of those values and help us live those values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Burns was an officer with the Long Beach Police Department when Garcia was mayor, it\u2019s been a long time since the two have crossed paths, both men said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have different political perspectives, but I respect his service as a Long Beach police officer,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

The congressmember also said that some of his college friends now live in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, and he considers himself fairly familiar with what will be the new 42nd Congressional District.<\/p>\n

In addition, he said he\u2019s been to the homes of some Huntington Beach residents who invited him to meet with small business owners and community members to hear their perspectives.<\/p>\n

Having served on the Long Beach City Council and as mayor<\/a> there for eight years before being elected to Congress, Garcia said he understands the fiscal challenges local municipalities face and that basic quality-of-life issues like sidewalk maintenance still matter. He intends to advocate on such issues, he said.<\/p>\n

Just don\u2019t expect the congressmember to pull a 180 on his political stances, whether it\u2019s about LGBTQ+ rights<\/a> or other core values.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people are being attacked, if communities are being marginalized, it\u2019s my place to speak up. I\u2019m not going to shy from that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Garcia said if he is reelected, he\u2019d represent \u201csome very wealthy communities,\u201d yet he continues to believe billionaires and large corporations shouldn\u2019t get tax breaks while average citizens struggle to pay their rent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always vote what I believe is the right thing for the communities I represent, for our state and for what I believe in,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

At the same time, he said he respects the fact that not everyone shares his opinions. He\u2019s spent his career working with people with differing views, he said, and expects that to continue even if he represents more conservative communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked with Republicans my whole life,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m actually not worried about it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A day after California voters passed Proposition 50, Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat from Long Beach whose district…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1400,7,1752,1751,204,588,131,133,132,137,5860,100,611,13,991,1748,29597],"class_list":{"0":"post-73403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-2026-elections","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-congress","11":"tag-democrats","12":"tag-election","13":"tag-huntington-beach","14":"tag-long-beach","15":"tag-long-beach-headlines","16":"tag-long-beach-news","17":"tag-los-angeles-county","18":"tag-newport-beach","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-orange-county","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-redistricting","23":"tag-republicans","24":"tag-seal-beach"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}