Democrat Hakeem Jeffries stumps in California in a bid to reclaim House control

LOS ANGELES — Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries crisscrossed Southern California over the weekend in communities far from the presidential battlegrounds — Little Saigon in Orange County and the high desert of Antelope Valley — as he works to wrest control of the U.S. House from Republicans.

The Golden State is a Democratic stronghold but the party lost House seats here in recent elections, giving the speaker's gavel to Republicans. Jeffries, who is in line to become the next House speaker if Democrats regain control in November, needs to pick up four GOP-held seats to win back the majority — and there are five being eyed here in California, more than any other state in the nation.

''California is an incredibly important state at all times, but particularly this cycle given the volume of races that will help decide control of the House of Representatives,'' Jeffries told The Associated Press in between stops.

With the race for control of Congress as tight as ever, Democrats are trying to reverse what they view as the shortcomings of recent election cycles when Republicans scored victories in unexpected places, including districts President Joe Biden had just won in 2020.

It's not just California, but Jeffries' home state of New York, that have become the surprising blue-state battlegrounds, which could very well swing the congressional elections and determine which party wins the House majority and speaker's chair.

Jeffries did not have the state to himself over the weekend. Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for the White House, declared California a ''paradise lost" under Democrats, who hold every statewide office, as he rallied MAGA supporters in Coachella on the grounds of the iconic annual music festival.

The Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was in the state as well, attending private events in California, including in South Orange County, as he works to save and potentially expand his party's majority. Republicans are trying to flip Democratic-held seats. Johnson was at an event for Republican candidate Matt Gunderson, a newcomer who is challenging Democratic Rep. Mike Levin.

In what was once the Republican bastion of Orange County, Jeffries touched down Saturday in Anaheim, home to Little Saigon, a community with more Vietnamese Americans than elsewhere in the nation, many having settled and raised families in migration waves after the Vietnam War.

At a restaurant and banquet hall not far from Disneyland, a who's who of Vietnamese community leaders and entertainers gathered in support of Democratic candidate Derek Tran, who would become the first Vietnamese-American to represent the area in its nearly 50 years. He is challenging the Republican incumbent, Rep. Michelle Steel, who first won in 2020.

''This is going to be a close race,'' Jeffries told the crowd, noting that Tran would be the only Vietnamese American in the House Democratic caucus, if elected. ''It's important.''

Miles away in the farthest reaches of Los Angeles County, where the space industry shares space with Joshua trees, Jeffries rallied more than 200 volunteers who showed up early Sunday morning at an machinists' and aerospace workers' union hall in Palmdale to start knocking on doors to get out the vote.

It's the only Los Angeles County congressional seat held by a Republican, Rep. Mike Garcia, a Navy fighter pilot who served in the Iraq War and first won office in 2020. Trying to unseat him is Democrat George Whitesides, a former NASA chief of staff and Virgin Galactic executive, and a newcomer to politics.

''Southern California races are always competitive, but Republicans keep having success,'' said Lance Trover, a Republican strategist working on both the Steel and Gunderson campaigns.

Before sending the volunteers out to canvas, Jeffries ran through his itinerary over past few weeks — from Phoenix to Portland to Albuquerque to New Haven, Connecticut to New York to Pennsylvania to Ohio and now California — all key races to win the House, alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.