Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) lost his reelection bid to fellow Democrat and socialist candidate Angela Gonzales-Torres on Tuesday, ending his nine-year tenure as a congressman.
Gonzales-Torres won 58.66% of the vote compared to the incumbent’s 41.34% after the Associated Press called the race at 1:11 p.m. on Wednesday.
Gomez sought a sixth term in Congress this election cycle while undergoing a House Ethics Committee investigation concerning a former congressional staffer’s allegations of sexual misconduct against him. The unnamed staffer reportedly had nonconsensual interactions with Gomez, who has maintained the relationship was consensual. The congressman is married.
The House ethics panel started investigating Gomez this summer, adding the California Democrat to the list of congressmen who faced sexual misconduct or harassment allegations this year. Former Reps. Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales, a California Democrat and Texas Republican, respectively, both resigned following such public allegations.
The allegations provided Gonzales-Torres an opportunity to unseat Gomez, who has represented California’s 34th Congressional District since July 2017 after winning a special election that year.
After the ethics investigation was announced in August, Gonzales-Torres likened Gomez to a “creep” who needs to resign. The embattled House Democrat has refused to step down.
After she was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Gonzales-Torres slammed her opponent on multiple issues.
Gomez “is complicit in genocide, endorsed by Leading the Future—the AI super PAC of Palantir and OpenAI co-founders—and is under investigation for sexual misconduct,” she posted on X in September. “I can’t wait to show my community what a Congressmember can do. Thank you DSA for standing with me.”
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Gonzales-Torres, a Los Angeles native and community advocate, led a progressive platform focused on housing, economic security, healthcare, and immigration, among other issues. Among the left-wing figures who endorsed her were former Democratic National Committee co-vice chairman David Hogg and former New York Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
The progressive challenger secured nearly 31% of primary votes in June compared to Gomez’s 46% in a six-way race that included Republican candidate Calvin Lee, who received almost 14%. Lee and three other primary candidates were eliminated in the open primary and did not advance to the general election.