Democratic socialist Angela Gonzales-Torres unseated Rep. Jimmy Gomez, ending the Democrat’s nearly decade-long hold on California’s 34th Congressional District as he faces a House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct allegations.
The first-time candidate claimed 58.7% of the vote to Gomez’s 41.3%, with 73% of the ballots counted, according to the Associated Press.
The all-Democratic race in one of the state’s bluest districts was reshaped this year by the allegations against Gomez.
In August, the House Ethics Committee confirmed it was investigating whether he “may have engaged in sexual misconduct,” including inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer.
CNN first revealed the probe in June, and later reported that investigators had uncovered additional allegations. The inquiry followed a report that Gomez was seen in 2023 kissing a younger congressional aide who did not work for him.
Gomez, who is married with one child and chairs the Congressional Dads Caucus, has acknowledged “personal mistakes” outside his marriage that hurt his family, but has maintained that any relationship was consensual and that he broke no House rules. He has said he will cooperate with the committee.
Gonzales-Torres has also pointed to Gomez’s own words: In April, he stepped down as chair of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign, saying Swalwell should leave the race “so there can be full accountability” amid allegations against him.
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Gomez finished first in the six-candidate June primary with about 46% of the vote. Gonzales-Torres took 30.7%, and Republican Calvin Lee placed third with about 13.7%.
Gonzales-Torres, a Highland Park native who describes herself as the “daughter of a deportee raised by a single mother,” is a former president of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council and served on Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee. She was backed by DSA-LA and Justice Democrats and pledged to refuse corporate and super PAC money.
She ran on finishing the lead cleanup from the shuttered Exide battery plant, universal legal representation in immigration court and a $25 minimum wage. Israel became one of the sharpest dividing lines, as Gonzales-Torres has said she ran in part out of frustration over Gomez’s refusal to support the Block the Bombs Act, which would restrict US weapons transfers.
Gomez, a former labor organizer and member of the state Assembly, won the seat in a 2017 special election to replace Xavier Becerra, who left to become state attorney general.
A member of the Ways and Means Committee, he positioned himself as a progressive, co-sponsoring the College for All Act and speaking out against Trump administration immigration enforcement. He was endorsed by Sen. Adam Schiff.
The district, home to about 755,000 people, includes Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Glassell Park. Roughly 65% of its residents are Latino.
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