Jimmy Gomez sprinted to an easy victory winning 60-40% over Robert Ahn in the congressional race in Los Angeles , reports KPCC.
Many expected the race to be much closer than that, as Ahn surprised many with his fundraising and political prowess.
It was not meant to be for the former planning commissioner who was a relative political unknown. If elected, he would have been the first Korean American elected to Congress in nearly two decades and just the second overall.
He waged an aggressive early voting campaign and data indicated that voting among the 17,000 Korean Americans in the district was heavy.
The district is majority Latino and and the district has been represented by a Latino since the 1980’s. Ahn remained optimistic.
“The campaign, it doesn’t end here. This is just beginning for this community,” the Los Angeles Times reported Ahn said. “Just look around you. There’s so much to be hopeful for. There’s so much that we’ve started.”
Both candidates were Democrats and both agreed on most of the issues. Gomez is currently a state assemblyperson and was the heavy favorite going into the runoff.
“The Ahn campaign did a magnificent job in really energizing their base in this election,” said Paul Mitchell, who runs Political Data. “But the fundamentals of this district, I think, are hard for anyone to overcome. … There’s this baked-in advantage for Latino candidates in those poll voters.”
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