Calvert Defeats Kim in California's 40th District
Two Republican incumbents faced off after redistricting placed them in the same congressional district.
Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Elections
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Ken Calvert defeated Young Kim in California's 40th Congressional District, an intraparty contest between two Republican incumbents. The race followed redistricting that carved up Calvert's former district and distributed it among neighboring districts.
Why it matters
The contest reflects how redistricting can force incumbents into direct competition with one another. The 40th District, which includes parts of Riverside and Orange Counties, is one of the state's last Republican strongholds.
The race was decided in the general election following a nonpartisan primary in which both candidates criticized each other as insufficiently supportive of President Trump's agenda. The source does not report vote tallies or the margin of victory.
The players
Ken Calvert
Ken Calvert is a longtime Republican congressman from Southern California who won the 40th District seat after his former district was redrawn.
Young Kim
Young Kim is a Republican congresswoman who had represented California's 40th District since 2018 and lost this contest to Calvert.
The details
Calvert ran against Kim after his former district was carved up and distributed among several neighboring districts, placing the two incumbents in the same seat. During the nonpartisan primary, the candidates attacked each other over their support for Trump's agenda, and in the fall both portrayed themselves as pragmatic, "common sense" politicians distancing themselves from the president.
Timeline
Kim began representing the district in 2018.
Candidates shifted to a pragmatic, "common sense" tone in the fall of 2026.
Calvert defeated Kim in the general election on November 9, 2026.
Political Context
The race is a product of California's post-2020 redistricting, which reshaped congressional boundaries and forced incumbents into shared districts. It shows how redrawn maps can turn members of the same party into direct rivals.
Voters in the redrawn 40th District now have a new representative chosen from a field shaped by the new boundaries. The outcome determines which incumbent will hold a seat that now spans different communities than before.
The takeaway
Redistricting can reshape not only district lines but also who represents them, as this race between two sitting Republicans shows. Readers following California politics can track how new maps affect future contests in the state.
Further reading
For more on how these contests are decided, see California Elections.
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Do you trust local politicians more when they publicly distance themselves from the president?
