CA Republican Congressional Members Show Strong Q1 Donation Earnings

New first quarter donation earnings released this week saw huge gains for GOP House members in battleground districts across the state, showing that the 2026 election is likely to be as contentious as the 2024 election.

According to the Q1 2025 earnings report for Congressman David Valadao (R-CA),  he raised $937,470 in the first quarter and closing out with $845,920 cash on hand – a significant jump in funds this early compared to years past.

A Congressman from 2013-2019 and from 2021 to present in the Central Valley, the last 3 elections since he took back his seat in 2020 have been extraordinarily close. In 2020 he defeated then Congressman T.J. Cox by less than 2,000 votes, winning 85,373 to to 83,619, or 50.4% to 49.6%. Then Assemblyman Rudy Salas challenged him next in 2022 where Valadao won by another narrow result, 52,472 to 49,196, or 51.6% to 48.4%. Salas tried again last year, leading to Valadao’s best post-return result of 89,484 to 78,023, or 53.4% to 46.6%. Despite the continued margin of victory growth, the district remains a close one, with the high amount of Q1 funding this week being a good indicator of his popularity and how much they are going to have for the campaign next year.

“Congressman David Valadao is battle-tested, backed by grassroots support and this impressive showing proves what we already know: he is ready to fight for the Central Valley and help expand the Republican majority in the House,” said National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Spokesman Christian Martinez on Wednesday.

However, while Valadao was the big name in funding for Q1, other GOP congressional members also brought strong showings. This included Congresswoman Young Kim (R-CA), who raised $1,285,569.61 and ended with $2,580,292.51 cash on hand. Tellingly, the multiple Democratic candidates combined raised $1.38 million in the first quarter, with Kim alone netting $1.29 million.

Kim, an Orange County Congresswoman since 2021, has faced fierce elections every year since she helped take back Orange County seats in 2020 following the “blue wave” in 2018 that brought Democrats to win 4 seats in the O.C. In 2020, Kim ousted the incumbent Congressman Gil Cisneros by just over 4,000 votes, with the final tally being 172,253 to 168,108, or 50.6% to 49.4%. In 2022 and 2024, Kim went on to defeat Democratic candidates by 56% and 55% of the vote respectively. Despite these higher margins, like Valadao, it is still close enough that Democrats have been putting everything they can in those races.

Right now, the GOP has only a seven seat majority in the House, 220 to 213 with 2 vacant seats. While the GOP has been targeting swing-blue districts, Democrats have been doing the same with close districts in California, as there are enough in the state to swing Congress either way. With Q1 earning being this high in vulnerable GOP seats this early, it shows that the Democrats could have a rockier than expected time in California next year in trying to retake seats.

“This kind of fundraising performance from Republican House members is exactly what it’s going to take not just to hold the line, but to go on offense and expand our majority in the House in 2026,” added Martinez in a Globe interview. “California Voters are backing Republicans who are delivering on commonsense solutions – not out of touch Democrats pushing a radical agenda and we have the war chest to prove it.”