When George Whitesides declared victory last week, he did something that Democrats have been dreaming of for some time: flipping California’s 27th Congressional District from red to blue. 

What You Need To Know

  • Democrats have been targeting California's 27th District over the last several cycles to try and flip it from red to blue 

  • Democrat George Whitesides, former NASA chief of staff and former CEO of Virgin Galactic, was able to do just that this year, beating out incumbent Republican Mike Garcia for the north Los Angeles County seat

  • Whitesides sat down with Spectrum News for a one-on-one chat during his new member orientation as he learns the ropes of his new gig

The north Los Angeles County district contains cities such as Santa Clarita and Palmdale, and has been on Democrats’ target list for the last three cycles (including 2024) following the resignation of former Democratic Rep. Katie Hill in 2019. Voters elected Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., the following year in a special election, and he’s been able to hold onto the seat until now despite a conservative voting record in a Democratic leaning district.

The 27th District was one of 18 nationwide that voted for Joe Biden in 2020 that continued to be represented by a Republican in Congress. With Democrats losing both the White House and control of the Senate on Election Day, Whiteside’s win was a bright spot – one he attributes to his campaign’s focus on kitchen table issues.

“We stayed really focused on trying to solve people's everyday problems. You know, the costs, local jobs, protecting social security, protecting health care and protecting a woman's right to choose. You know, those are really the issues that we heard when we were knocking on the doors, and so we really stayed focused on those local issues,” explained Whitesides in an interview with Spectrum News. 

When asked why he thinks his message resonated while other Democrats faltered this cycle, Whitesides said he couldn’t speak to what happened in other districts, but thought that “staying focused on the issues that matter and showing up for people, I think that was really a big part of” his campaign’s success.

“We worked as a team extraordinarily hard to be present in the community for this entire cycle, and so people knew me from one end of the district to the other. And I think that that's really what we want from our congressperson,” explained Whitsides, the former CEO of spaceflight company Virgin Galactic and onetime NASA official.

“We want to fight for our area and be present, and so that people know that they can come up to me and raise an issue that that they're having," he continued. "And that's what I look forward to doing now that I'm heading towards being a congressman is being really available, having a lot of town halls, making sure that we're very accessible to folks in our district.”

Whitesides declared victory on Nov. 11, one day before the Associated Press called the race in his favor. Garcia called Whitesides that evening and conceded the race, releasing a statement in which he called representing California’s 27th District “the honor of a lifetime.”

“I thank the people of CA-27 for allowing me to represent them during a tumultuous and critical period in our Nation’s history. I spoke with George Whitesides this evening [Nov. 11] to congratulate him, and I will ensure a smooth handoff of open constituent casework packages to him and his team,” Garcia said.

Whitesides admitted that he was surprised to see Garcia’s name pop up on his phone, but that the two had a respectful conversation.

“Without sharing too much, I think the focus of the conversation was just sharing that… he thought that the race was at the end and he wanted to make sure that we transitioned the work appropriately so that we could have a running start going into the next administration and I appreciate that,” Whitesides said.

Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, called Whitesides "a job creator and pragmatic consensus-builder with the experience and track record to truly represent the needs of the Antelope Valley, the San Fernando Valley, and Santa Clarita" in a statement congratulating him on his victory.

"George is ready to put in the work and deliver for families across California’s 27th in Congress. The DCCC is proud to have partnered with George to win this race, and I’m excited to work alongside him in Congress,” she added.

Over the last several days, Whitesides has been working with his fellow incoming lawmakers to learn the ropes of their new job (“It is thrown at you really quickly,” he admitted with a smile.) and get acclimated with what his life will look like come January. He said they are working on hiring congressional staff, and later this week, he will get to start the process of selecting his office. He says he’s looking forward to hitting the ground running on day one.

“Because I was chief of staff of NASA, I actually understand a fair amount about the legislative process. And I think I start out sort of a step or two ahead, because we know about the budget process, we know about the appropriations process, we know about the authorization process,” said Whitesides. “We're going to be able to be more fluent quickly for the folks in our district to address their challenges.” 

As for a day one priority, Whitesides stuck with what helped elect him in the first place: kitchen table issues.

"We need to be ready to step up and engage in these, these big debates that we'll be having, and making sure that we're doing the work to try to generate local economic activity and generate the local jobs that we really want to, want to build."

The 119th Congress is set to be sworn in Jan. 3, 2025. The House must elect a Speaker before the oath can be delivered.