California threatens to worsen House Democrats' 2027 headaches

• Democratic Reps. Mike Thompson, Doris Matsui and Jimmy Gomez are all facing well-funded challenges from younger, less establishment-aligned Democrats.
• There are also several Northern California races that feature a pro-leadership Democrat facing off against a more left-leaning rival.
• Sought for comment on this story, Justin Chermol, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), told Axios: "Stop wasting our time with your irrelevant stories that have nothing to do with taking back control of the House of Representatives."

4th District: Rep. Mike Thompson vs. Eric Jones

Thompson, a 75-year-old first elected in 1998, faces a challenge from 35-year-old former venture capitalist Eric Jones.

• "I don't think anyone in Democratic leadership today is really doing their job well," Jones said in an interview with Axios.

• Asked if he would vote for Jeffries as speaker, Jones replied: "As of today, I wouldn't vote for any member."

Jones is trying to cobble together a populist, anti-establishment coalition consisting of both progressives and Republicans. He said he does not identify as progressive, telling Axios he prefers "no labels."

• He said that, if elected, he will "have the benefit of independence ... of not taking party money, and I'm not going to vote a party line."

7th District: Rep. Doris Matsui vs. Mai Vang

Matsui, 85, is seen as particularly vulnerable after finishing second to Mai Vang in the jungle primary election in June.

• Vang, a progressive Sacramento City Councilmember in her 40s, has positioned herself alongside a new bloc of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-aligned candidates including Darializa Avila Chevalier, Chris Rabb and Melat Kiros.
• She previously signaled to Axios she won't vote for Jeffries as speaker, saying she "cannot support this kind of leadership" and that "we need new leadership and a new direction."

11th District: Scott Wiener vs. Connie Chan

The fight between state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been particularly bitter.

• Chan has positioned herself to the left of Wiener, a longtime progressive who has come under fire from the pro-Palestinian movement for being insufficiently critical of Israel.
• Wiener told Mission Local he looks "forward to electing Hakeem Jeffries speaker."
• Chan told the outlet that "any candidate for speaker, including Hakeem Jeffries, will have to earn my vote."

14th District: Rep. Aisha Wahab vs. Melissa Hernandez

Wahab, a progressive former state senator, defeated Hernandez, the more moderate former mayor of Dublin, California, in an August special election to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell.

• The two are now duking it out for a full term.
• Wahab has already shown her willingness to buck leadership: She defied Pelosi and Jeffries by running in the special election instead of allowing a "caretaker" to run unopposed, according to The Sunday Times.
• The Wahab and Hernandez campaigns did not respond to questions about whether their candidates would vote for Jeffries as speaker.

34th District: Rep. Jimmy Gomez vs. Angela Gonzales-Torres

Gomez has come under fire after the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into him in August over allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies.

• He has been a longtime target of the left, having survived three consecutive primary challenges from Democrat David Kim since 2020 by 2 to 11 percentage points.
• This time he faces a challenge from Angela Gonzales-Torres, a progressive local neighborhood councilor backed by many of the same left-wing groups that support Vang and Wahab.

Gonzales-Torres, asked in an interview with Axios if she would vote for Jeffries as speaker, said she looks forward to "supporting leaders who are not nearly funded by corporate super PACs."

• Gonzales-Torres, pointing to her support from DSA, said she considers herself part of the "national slate" of progressive insurgents such as Avila Chevalier, Rabb and Kiros.
• "Right now [what] we are focusing on is winning this election and hopefully getting to be part of utilizing our bargaining power as this incoming class in Congress," she said.

The bottom line: The larger the bloc of Jeffries skeptics that arrives on Capitol Hill in January, the worse a time Democratic leadership will have.

• That could be tempered to a large degree by the size of Democrats' potential majority, but, as Axios previously reported, many red-seat candidates are also maintaining their independence from leadership.
• Still, few Democrats think Jeffries will ultimately be denied the speakership. The fights that come after are more uncertain.