2018 General Election Elected 53 – 47
California is one state where gerrymandering has not made it difficult for Democrats to win congressional races. Districts are created through an independent commission in California. One result is that there are a few districts that are evenly balanced and tough to win on that account. California’s seventh Congressional District is one of those.
Nationally, there are ten Democrats who won election by 15,000 votes or fewer. Ami Bera, http://www.beraforcongress.com/ (full name — Amulesh Babulal Bera) who represents this district east of Sacramento, CA, was the fourth closest winner among all Democrats in the 2016 election. He won by 6965 votes out of just under 300,000 total votes.
Even though Ami Bera is seeking his fourth term, his is not a safe seat. He won the seat in a close race against a Republican incumbent in 2012 and defeated a law and order Republican in 2016 under difficult circumstances.
Ami Bera’s family history is an American story of success and sadness. His father, an immigrant from India by way of Mexico, became a highly successful engineer. He was proud of his son becoming a doctor and even more proud of his son seeking and then becoming a Member of Congress. Independent of Ami Bera’s campaign and without his son’s knowledge, he raised money illegally for the campaign, for which he pled guilty and was convicted. So what could have become one more American story of immigrant success became a story about that success gone awry.
Ami Bera has persisted. He has been a moderate to liberal Democratic Congressman. Endorsed for election by gay rights groups and conservation groups, he supported the Affordable Care Act, advocated for Hillary Clinton for President and for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
He doesn’t forget that he is a doctor or that his father was an engineer. His government website, https://bera.house.gov/, has pictures of him as a doctor and pictures of him at construction sites. If the Democrats are going to win a majority in the House of Representatives, Ami Bera, http://www.beraforcongress.com will need to be reelected. Give him some early support. Consider a small monthly donation. Those monthlies are enormously helpful.
Let me mention one other Congressional race. Archie Parnell won the Democratic primary for SC 05 yesterday. He joins Jon Ossoff (GA 06) and Rob Quist (MT AL) in special election campaigns in districts that are open by virtue of Trump appointing the Republican incumbent. Take a look at Parnell’s website www.archieparnell.com, think about providing him with some support as well. These elections are coming up soon – Quist on May 25, Parnell and Ossoff on June 20.
