Republican Steve Knight Re-Elected in California’s 25th District
Had been part of the NRCC's Patriot Program
Republican Rep. Steve Knight will be returning for a second term representing California’s 25th District, The Associated Press projects.
Holding the seat was important for Republicans seeking to maintain control of the House and avoid seeing their California delegation shrink even further.
Located north of Los Angeles, the Golden State’s 25th District is a conservative-leaning collection of upper-middle class cities and bedroom communities among the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. While the district’s overall population is more than one-third Hispanic, white residents maintain a plurality.
Going into Election Day, the race was rated Republican Favored by The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call and had been featured this cycle in the National Republican Congressional Committee’s Patriot Program, an effort to provide resources to incumbents in targeted races.
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Knight was first elected two years ago, succeeding longtime GOP Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon. President Barack Obama carried the district in 2008 and only narrowly lost it in 2012.
Prior to his election to the House, Knight served on the Palmdale City Council as well as in the California state Assembly and state Senate. His father, Pete, was a local legend as a former combat pilot, astronaut, and state legislator.
Caforio was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Susman Godfrey, which calls itself “one of the nation’s leading litigation boutique law firms,” but withdrew his partnership when he announced his House run. He handled commercial litigation, including cases involving residential mortgage-backed securities.
As a result, Caforio said he saw some of the uglier aspects of the 2008-2009 financial crisis from the inside.
The district was the site in 2015 and 2016 of a methane leak that forced thousands of people to leave their homes.
“For a long time, we’ve been hearing that natural gas is one of the cleaner fossil fuels, that’s it’s a transition source of energy. But as the people in our community know, it’s not clean enough,” Caforio said.