Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) has won the newly drawn 40th Congressional District, beating fellow Republican Rep. Young Kim in a rare incumbent-on-incumbent matchup, according to preliminary results from Decision Desk HQ. With 69% of the vote counted, Calvert holds 53.5% to Kim's 46.5%.
The contest was a direct consequence of California's independent redistricting process, which merged parts of Calvert's old 41st District and Kim's former 40th District into a single seat. The new district spans portions of Orange County and the Inland Empire, including Mission Viejo, Corona, Lake Elsinore, and Rancho Santa Margarita.
Because both incumbents represented large chunks of the new boundaries, the race guaranteed that one of them would lose their House seat. Calvert, who has represented parts of this region since 1992, controlled a larger share of the new district's territory, giving him a structural advantage from the start.
Calvert is now California's longest-serving Republican in Congress. He chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and leads the California Republican House Delegation. In his campaign, he leaned heavily on his conservative record, contrasting himself with Kim's 2021 vote with Democrats to block a Trump-era rollback of methane emissions regulations.
At a rally in Murrieta alongside gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, Calvert framed himself as a consistent conservative. "People know exactly where I'm at," he told Spectrum News. "I haven't changed a bit in the 30 years, and so I'll continue to give people the kind of common sense governance that they deserve."
Calvert's victory adds to a broader pattern of younger candidates reshaping Congress, though here it was a veteran fending off a challenger. The race also highlighted the ongoing fallout from California's redistricting battles, which have sometimes drawn legal challenges from the Department of Justice.
Kim, who had served two terms, was seen as a rising GOP star, but her defeat underscores the difficulty of overcoming an entrenched incumbent in a redrawn district. Calvert's endorsements from major conservative groups and state Republican figures, including Sheriff Chad Bianco, helped solidify his base.
With Calvert's win, Republicans retain a key appropriations voice and a seasoned veteran in a swing-adjacent district. The outcome also means California's GOP delegation loses one of its few Asian American members, a demographic Republicans have been courting nationally.
