Elect Christy Smith to push CA-25 back in the right direction.

About the Position

The United States is divided into 435 congressional districts, each with a population of about 710,000 individuals. Each district elects a representative to the House of Representatives for a two-year term. California has 53 congressional representatives. There is no term limit for this position.  

About the District

California's 25th Congressional District includes parts of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Republicans held this district from 1992 to 2018, when Katie Hill won and flipped CA-25 from red to blue in the historic 2018 midterm elections. Rep. Hill resigned mid-term in 2019, resulting in a low-turnout special election that was won by Republican Mike Garcia. A Democratic victory in this district in November will help retain control of the House of Representatives and advance a progressive agenda.

About the Race

In the primary, Democratic challenger Christy Smith led Republican incumbent Mike Garcia by a margin of 7.8 percent. Smith has not pledged to refuse fossil fuel or police money, but has pledged that her campaign will not take corporate PAC money. She has received financial support from a variety of progressive organization PACs, including End Citizens United, Equality California, EMILY’s List, and Clean. Smith has also pledged not to take donations from special interests, Washington lobbyists, health insurance companies, or big drug companies. In contrast, Rep. Garcia, who spent 10 years working for a defense contractor, has numerous problematic campaign funders, including Lockheed Martin Corporation, and the Lincoln Club of Orange County. Garcia has disagreed with Speaker Pelosi on 64 percent of votes since he joined the House.

About the Candidate

Christy Smith, an education professional and member of the State Assembly, has lived in Santa Clarita for the last 40 years. According to campaign materials, Assemblywoman Smith is running for office to invest in public education by providing teachers with a living wage, reducing class sizes, making college more affordable, and improving technical training programs.

Assemblywoman Smith wants to reinstate state and local tax deductions, which would lower taxes for families by up to $12,000 a year. She supports ending Citizens United and refuses donations from the gun lobby, Big Tobacco, and other federal corporate PACs. In Congress, Assemblywoman Smith would support a public health-care option to build on the Affordable Care Act, lowering the price of prescriptions, and protecting reproductive health-care rights and Planned Parenthood funding. She also supports strong climate action, gun safety, protecting our seniors retirement security, human rights, and immigration reform, and she serves as chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management.

Assemblywoman Smith currently represents portions of this district as a member of the California State Assembly. As is common in historically Republican districts like hers, she scored an unimpressive 48 out of 100 on Courage Score, our annual analysis of legislators’ progressive voting records. This rating is primarily owed to no votes on AB 362, which allows the state to contract operators at safe-injection sites in the Bay Area, and AB 1215, which bans biometric surveillance and facial-recognition technology from use in police body cameras for three years. She also had problematic votes on legislation related to affordable housing, economic justice, racial justice, and political accountability. However, she has also worked to protect homeowners against excessive property taxation, and to mandate that revenue from the gas tax be spent solely on transportation infrastructure projects. Based on our analysis, Assemblywoman Smith’s votes move her district in a progressive direction.

Christy Smith is endorsed by many progressive groups in the district. Former President Obama also endorsed her in this race, as well as many other current U.S. officials from across the country. According to our analysis, Rep. Christy Smith is the strongest choice for equitable leadership in office.