California’s conservative Huntington Beach could get a gay, Democratic congressman

The conservative California community of Huntington Beach, known for banning the Pride flag from city property and fighting the state over pandemic and housing policy, could soon be represented by a gay, Democratic congressman. Robert Garcia, an incumbent two-term Democratic LGBTQ+ congressman, immigrant and Donald Trump critic, is considered the leading contender in Tuesday’s primary race for the US House seat. Thanks to a successful restricting effort that redrew California’s voting maps to favor Democrats , Huntington Beach is now part of Garcia’s congressional district 42. California’s redistricting effort, known as Proposition 50, was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November. Trump set off a wave of new mid-decade redistricting after urging Texas to adopt changes to favor Republicans during the midterm elections. California soon followed, as have a number of other states, reshaping representation across the US. Since 2025 Dave Min, a moderate Democratic, has represented the district that includes Huntington Beach. Conservative officials in the city have expressed frustration about the changes underway. “It’s just California ugly-ass politics, and they are all about their agenda and not about the people. They don’t care about the people of California one bit,” Pat Burns, a Huntington Beach city councilman, told Reuters. The Orange county city of just under 200,000 people has some 56,367 Republican voters, and 41,156 Democrats. …