(NewsNation) — With 51.2% of the vote, NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ has called the race for California’s District 27 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in favor of George Whitesides. See the results of U.S. House and U.S. Senate races from around the country here.
The race between incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Garcia and Democratic challenger and former NASA chief of staff George Whitesides could impact which political party controls the U.S. House moving forward.
Garcia, who was first elected to the seat in 2020, was seeking to hold onto the office for the Republicans. The former U.S. Navy pilot, who served during Operation Iraqi Freedom, took office after Democrat Rep. Katie Hill vacated the seat.
Garcia has maintained the seat after defeating former Democratic Assemblymember Christy Smith in 2020 and 2022.
Whitesides has spent his career working in aerospace, including in NASA under former President Barack Obama. He then served as the CEO of Virgin Galactic before shifting to founding an operation that fights wildfires.
Whitesides had previously called for budget cuts for police departments and veterans administration organizations.
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District 27, which includes parts of northern Los Angeles County, including several high desert communities, has been traditionally Republican but is now populated by a majority of registered Democratic voters, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
However, 21.7% of those in the district have registered as having no party preference, which created neck-and-neck races between candidates representing the two major political parties.
Heading into Tuesday’s election, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. Republicans control the chamber with a narrow majority of 220 seats, while the Democrats occupy 212 and three vacancies.
