NEWPORT BEACH, California — The contest to succeed progressive firebrand Katie Porter in Southern California was supposed to be one of the country’s marquee House races.
Instead, it isn’t even the costliest clash in Orange County, where Democrats are going all-in to flip a neighboring Republican seat.
Yet while the dollars might be flowing elsewhere, the increasingly acrimonious scramble for Porter’s coastal district is still a test of whether her party can hold on without her in historically hostile territory.
Democrats have reasons for concern: Scott Baugh, the longtime GOP operative and former state lawmaker and county party chair who narrowly lost to Porter in 2022, has effectively been running for three years. Democrats have lost ground with registered voters in the district and their candidate this year, state Sen. Dave Min, is a capable fundraiser, but nowhere near as prolific as Porter. Private polls have shown a margin-of-error race, and a public survey from late September had the Republican with a narrow advantage , though still within the margin.