A special election to the United States House of Representatives for was held March 3, 2020, the same day as the California presidential primaries. As no candidate received a majority, a runoff took place on May 12, 2020, between the top two finishers Christy Smith and Mike Garcia. Garcia's win was the first time Republicans flipped a Democratic-held House seat in California since 1998.
Katie Hill, who had been elected in 2018, had resigned on November 3, 2019 after reports of an inappropriate relationship with a campaign staffer and allegations of sexual relations with her congressional staff, as well as nude photos of her which were published without her consent. Steve Knight, who had represented the district until 2019, ran in the primary but did not advance to the runoff.
By winning the special election, Garcia finished the remaining balance of Hill's term in the 116th Congress. A separate primary and general election on March 3, 2020, and on November 3, 2020, respectively, was held to determine the representative for the 117th Congress; Garcia narrowly defeated Smith in a rematch.
Background
Buck McKeon (R) represented the district from 1993 until he retired in 2014. Steve Knight (R) then won over Tony Strickland (R) in the 2014 election and served until he was defeated by Katie Hill (D) in 2018 by 8.8 percentage points.
Hill resigned in October 2019 following a scandal in which she admitted to an "inappropriate relationship" with a campaign staffer and nude photos of her were published without her consent.
On November 15, 2019, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, issued a proclamation declaring a special election for the 25th Congressional District on May 12, 2020, with a primary on March 3, 2020.
In recent presidential elections the district narrowly voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and Mitt Romney (R) in 2012, while Hillary Clinton (D) won the district by 7 percentage points in 2016.
Candidates
California uses a primary system in which all candidates run in a single primary regardless of political party. In regular congressional elections, the top two vote getters in the primary advance to a runoff election regardless of party affiliation or vote tally. However, in the special election for the balance of Hill's term, had a candidate received more than 50% of the primary vote, they would have been automatically elected and the runoff election cancelled.
On October 31, 2019, at least a dozen people had filed paperwork with the FEC to run for the seat. According to the certified list of candidates signed by the Secretary of State of California on January 15, 2020, six Democrats and six Republicans had filed for the special election and would appear on the ballot.
Democratic candidate Christopher Smith ended his campaign shortly after participating in the January 9 debate. While stopping short of a full endorsement, he stated "among the remaining field, the progressive candidate with the best chance of winning is Cenk Uygur."
Democratic Party
Declared
Robert Cooper III, university professor
Getro Franck Elize, patient resource worker
David Rudnick, businessman, real estate investor, political activist and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Christy Smith, state assemblywoman Cenk Uygur, co-founder, CEO, and host of The Young Turks; co-founder of Justice Democrats and founder of Wolf PAC Aníbal Valdez-Ortega, attorney and community organizer