Incumbent Mike Garcia (R) and George Whitesides (D) are running in the general election in California’s 27th Congressional District

Incumbent Mike Garcia (R) and George Whitesides (D) are running in the general election in California’s 27th Congressional District on Nov. 5, 2024.

The 27th district is one of 19 nationwide—including five in California—in which a Republican represents a district Joe Biden (D) won in 2020. Biden won the 27th over Donald Trump 54.0% to 43.9% in 2020. In the 2022 election, Garcia won re-election 53.2%–46.8% over Christy Smith (D). In that year’s gubernatorial election, Brian Dahle (R) won the district 50.9% to 49.1% over Gavin Newsom (D). The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee lists the district as a target for this year. As of July 5, 2024, four major race rating outlets rated the general election Toss-up.

Garcia was first elected in a special election in 2020. A U.S. Navy veteran, Garcia worked at Raytheon and as a real estate developer before entering politics. Garcia is running on his record, saying he stands for “common-sense policies that preserve your freedoms, protect your communities, and restore America’s standing on the international stage.”

Whitesides is a businessman who served as NASA chief of staff under President Barack Obama (D) and as chief executive officer of Virgin Galactic. Whitesides says Garcia is too conservative for the district: “He’s on the wrong side…he’s been voting to co-sponsor the national abortion ban. He voted to cut law enforcement budgets and the VA budgets by 30%. He voted to decertify a free and fair presidential election.”

All 435 U.S. House seats are up for election in 2024. Republicans have a 220 to 213 majority with two vacancies. As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election.