GOP Rep. Mike Garcia wins northern L.A. County race, giving Republicans control of the House.
Mike Garcia is a freshman Republican congressman who represents California’s northern coastal Los Angeles County, and he should be one of the party’s most vocal voices in Sacramento.
He’s no friend to immigration, but he has a decent record on key issues (read: Medicare for All). He has a long-term vision for how he will address gun violence – he’d consider universal background checks, which he opposes, as well as raising the age limit to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, which he supports.
Garcia is a moderate Democrat, which should make him an appealing legislator in a country with a conservative Republican majority.
We asked Garcia’s chief political spokesperson, David Bergstein, a former consultant to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, to explain why Garcia is one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the House.
Garcia will face challenges in his race for the GOP nomination, and he’ll also compete against the other three members of his political party.
Here’s what we learned — with a few caveats — about Garcia from our conversation:
1.) Garcia’s conservative credentials
A big part of Garcia’s appeal may be his progressive politics. He supports Medicare for All, affordable healthcare for all, and a Green New Deal. He’s a lifelong gun owner. He opposes “sanctuary cities,” and he has been a fierce opponent of gun violence in general, both in the wake of the Florida school shooting and as it has unfolded in El Paso and Dayton.
Garcia’s main point of disagreement with his fellow Republicans is on immigration. He said he wants to address it, in the ways he favors, if the federal government can get immigration reforms past the courts.
His stance is similar to that of many liberal Democrats — that there needs to be a pathway to citizenship for people brought to the United States as children and that the system
