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United States House of Representatives elections in California, 2014

The 2014 U.S. House of Representatives elections in California took place on November 4, 2014. Voters elected 53 candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the state's 53 congressional districts.

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
March 7, 2014	June 3, 2014	November 4, 2014

Primary: California uses a top-two primary system, in which all candidates appear on the same ballot. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election. In states that do not use a top-two system, all parties are usually able to put forward a candidate for the general election if they choose to.^[1]^[2]

Unlike the top-two format used in some states (Louisiana and Georgia special elections for example), a general election between the top-two candidates in California occurs regardless of whether the top candidate received 50% of the vote in the first round of elections.

As of August 2024, California was one of five states to use a top-two primary system, or a variation of the top-two system. See here for more information.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Voter registration: To vote in the primary, voters had to register by May 19, 2014. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 20, 2014 (the 15th calendar day before that election).^[3]

See also: California elections, 2014

Battleground races

California was home to four battleground districts in 2014: California's 7th Congressional District, California's 21st Congressional District, California's 36th Congressional District and California's 52nd Congressional District.

District 7

See also: California's 7th Congressional District elections, 2014

California's 7th Congressional District was a battleground in 2014.^[4] The district has a very slight Democratic lean.^[5]^[6] Incumbent Ami Bera (D) won election in 2012 by only 3.4 percent, and the district was won by President Barack Obama by 5 percent or less in both 2008 and 2012. Additionally, incumbent Ami Bera was a freshman representative.

Bera won re-election. He defeated Doug Ose (R) in the general election on November 4, 2014. The race remained uncalled for over two weeks following the general election.

District 21

See also: California's 21st Congressional District elections, 2014

Our analysis pointed to California's 21st Congressional District being a battleground with a Republican incumbent that leaned Democratic.^[5]^[6] The district was won by President Barack Obama by 11.1% in 2012 and 6% in 2008. Additionally, incumbent David Valadao (R) was a freshman representative.

Valadao won re-election, defeating Amanda Renteria (D) in the general election on November 4, 2014.

District 36

See also: California's 36th Congressional District elections, 2014

California's 36th Congressional District was a battleground in 2014. The district had very close to even numbers of Democratic and Republican voters.^[5]^[6] The district was won by President Barack Obama by 3.2% in 2012 and 3% in 2008. Additionally, incumbent Raul Ruiz (D) was a freshman representative.

Ruiz won re-election, defeating state representative Brian Nestande (R) in the general election on November 4, 2014.

District 52

See also: California's 52nd Congressional District elections, 2014

Our analysis pointed to California's 52nd Congressional District being a battleground with a slight Democratic lean.^[5]^[6] Incumbent Scott Peters (D) won election by 2.4 percent in 2012 and was a freshman member of the U.S. House.

Peters defeated Carl DeMaio in the general election on November 4, 2014. The race remained uncalled for several days following the election. DeMaio conceded to Peters on November 9, 2014.

Partisan breakdown

Heading into the November 4 election, the Democratic Party held 38 of the 53 congressional seats from California.

Members of the U.S. House from California -- Partisan Breakdown
Party	As of November 2014	After the 2014 Election
	Democratic Party	38	39
	Republican Party	15	14
Total	53	53

Incumbents

The 53 incumbents prior to the election are listed below. Click "show" to reveal the table.

Name	Party	District
Doug La Malfa	Republican	1
Jared Huffman	Democratic	2
John Garamendi	Democratic	3
Tom McClintock	Republican	4
Mike Thompson	Democratic	5
Doris Matsui	Democratic	6
Ami Bera	Democratic	7
Paul Cook	Republican	8
Jerry McNerney	Democratic	9
Jeff Denham	Republican	10
George Miller	Democratic	11
Nancy Pelosi	Democratic	12
Barbara Lee	Democratic	13
Jackie Speier	Democratic	14
Eric Swalwell	Democratic	15
Jim Costa	Democratic	16
Mike Honda	Democratic	17
Anna Eshoo	Democratic	18
Zoe Lofgren	Democratic	19
Sam Farr	Democratic	20
David Valadao	Republican	21
Devin Nunes	Republican	22
Kevin McCarthy	Republican	23
Lois Capps	Democratic	24
Howard McKeon	Republican	25
Julia Brownley	Democratic	26
Judy Chu	Democratic	27
Adam Schiff	Democratic	28
Tony Cardenas	Democratic	29
Brad Sherman	Democratic	30
Gary Miller	Republican	31
Grace Napolitano	Democratic	32
Henry Waxman	Democratic	33
Xavier Becerra	Democratic	34
Gloria Negrete McLeod	Democratic	35
Raul Ruiz	Democratic	36
Karen Bass	Democratic	37
Linda Sanchez	Democratic	38
Edward Royce	Republican	39
Lucille Roybal-Allard	Democratic	40
Mark Takano	Democratic	41
Ken Calvert	Republican	42
Maxine Waters	Democratic	43
Janice Hahn	Democratic	44
John Campbell	Republican	45
Loretta Sanchez	Democratic	46
Alan Lowenthal	Democratic	47
Dana Rohrabacher	Republican	48
Darrell Issa	Republican	49
Duncan Hunter	Republican	50
Juan Vargas	Democratic	51
Scott Peters	Democratic	52
Susan Davis	Democratic	53

Margin of victory for winners

There were a total of 53 seats up for election in 2014 in California. The following table shows the margin of victory for each district winner, which is calculated by examining the percentage difference between the two candidates who received the most votes. If the race was uncontested, the margin of victory is listed as 100 percent.

District	Winner	Margin of Victory	Total Vote	Top Opponent
District 1	Doug La Malfa	22.1%	216,372	Heidi Hall
District 2	Jared Huffman	50%	217,524	Dale Mensing
District 3	John Garamendi	5.4%	150,260	Dan Logue
District 4	Tom McClintock	20.1%	211,134	Art Moore
District 5	Mike Thompson	51.5%	171,148	James Hinton
District 6	Doris Matsui	45.4%	133,456	Joseph McCray, Sr.
District 7	Ami Bera	0.8%	183,587	Doug Ose
District 8	Paul Cook	35.3%	114,536	Bob Conaway
District 9	Jerry McNerney	4.7%	121,204	Tony Amador
District 10	Jeff Denham	12.3%	125,705	Michael Eggman
District 11	Mark DeSaulnier	34.5%	174,662	Tue Phan-Quang
District 12	Nancy Pelosi	66.5%	192,264	John Dennis
District 13	Barbara Lee	77%	190,431	Dakin Sundeen
District 14	Jackie Speier	53.4%	149,146	Robin Chew
District 15	Eric Swalwell	39.6%	142,906	Hugh Bussell
District 16	Jim Costa	1.5%	91,220	Johnny Tacherra
District 17	Mike Honda	3.5%	134,408	Ro Khanna
District 18	Anna Eshoo	35.5%	196,386	Richard Fox
District 19	Zoe Lofgren	34.4%	127,788	Robert Murray
District 20	Sam Farr	50.4%	141,044	Ronald Paul Kabat
District 21	David Valadao	15.7%	79,377	Amanda Renteria
District 22	Devin Nunes	44.1%	133,342	Suzanna Aguilera-Marrero
District 23	Kevin McCarthy	49.7%	134,043	Raul Garcia
District 24	Lois Capps	3.9%	198,794	Chris Mitchum
District 25	Stephen Knight	6.7%	114,072	Tony Strickland
District 26	Julia Brownley	2.7%	169,829	Jeff Gorell
District 27	Judy Chu	18.7%	127,580	Jack Orswell
District 28	Adam Schiff	53%	120,264	Steve Stokes
District 29	Tony Cardenas	49.2%	67,141	William Leader
District 30	Brad Sherman	31.3%	131,883	Mark Reed
District 31	Pete Aguilar	3.5%	99,784	Paul Chabot
District 32	Grace Napolitano	19.3%	84,406	Art Alas
District 33	Ted Lieu	18.4%	183,031	Elan Carr
District 34	Xavier Becerra	45.1%	61,621	Adrienne Nicole Edwards
District 35	Norma Torres	26.9%	62,255	Christina Gagnier
District 36	Raul Ruiz	8.4%	134,139	Brian Nestande
District 37	Karen Bass	68.6%	114,838	Adam King
District 38	Linda Sanchez	18.2%	98,480	Benjamin Campos
District 39	Edward Royce	37.1%	133,225	Peter Anderson
District 40	Lucille Roybal-Allard	22.4%	49,379	David Sanchez
District 41	Mark Takano	13.3%	82,884	Steve Adams
District 42	Ken Calvert	31.5%	113,390	Tim Sheridan
District 43	Maxine Waters	41.9%	98,202	John Wood
District 44	Janice Hahn	73.3%	68,862	Adam Shbeita
District 45	Mimi Walters	30.2%	162,902	Drew Leavens
District 46	Loretta Sanchez	19.4%	83,315	Adam Nick
District 47	Alan Lowenthal	12%	123,400	Andy Whallon
District 48	Dana Rohrabacher	28.2%	174,795	Sue Savary
District 49	Darrell Issa	20.3%	163,142	Dave Peiser
District 50	Duncan Hunter	42.4%	157,299	James Kimber
District 51	Juan Vargas	37.6%	81,950	Stephen Meade
District 52	Scott Peters	3.2%	191,572	Carl DeMaio
District 53	Susan Davis	17.7%	148,044	Larry Wilske

Issues

Top-two primary system

Since California implemented the top-two primary system, minor party and no party preference candidates have had a harder time making it onto the ballot. In 2012, minor parties put 21 candidates on the ballot in California. For the 10 years prior to that election, they averaged a combined 133 candidates on the ballot.^[7] Additionally, in the 111 elections for federal or state office in which a minor party did place a candidate on the primary ballot against at least two major party candidates in a top-two primary system, no minor party candidate has placed first or second in order to move on to the general election.^[8]^[9]

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