Democratic socialist Angela Gonzales-Torres demolished incumbent Rep. Jimmy Gomez in California's 34th Congressional District, proving the activist left will ruthlessly purge its own moderates — while Republican leadership works just as hard to suppress its base from the other direction.
Gonzales-Torres claimed 58.7% of the vote to Gomez's 41.3%, with 73% of ballots counted, according to the Associated Press. The first-time candidate steamrolled a seven-year incumbent crippled by a House Ethics Committee sexual misconduct investigation — and she did it by running hard left on Israel, wages, and immigration while swearing off corporate cash entirely.
The race turned on Gomez's ethics troubles. The House Ethics Committee confirmed in August it was investigating whether he "may have engaged in sexual misconduct," including inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer. CNN first revealed the probe in June and later reported investigators had uncovered additional allegations. The inquiry followed a report that Gomez was seen in 2023 kissing a younger congressional aide who did not work for him.
Gomez, married with one child and chair of the Congressional Dads Caucus, acknowledged "personal mistakes" outside his marriage but maintained any relationship was consensual and that he broke no House rules. He refused to resign. The Washington Examiner noted that former Reps. Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales — a California Democrat and Texas Republican, respectively — both resigned this year following public allegations of similar misconduct.
Gonzales-Torres smelled blood. After the ethics investigation was announced, she likened Gomez to a "creep" who needs to resign. In September, she posted on X: 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."
Follow the money: Gonzales-Torres, backed by DSA-LA and Justice Democrats, pledged to refuse corporate and super PAC money. Gomez, by contrast, was backed by a super PAC tied to Palantir and OpenAI co-founders. The contrast was the whole pitch.
She ran as the "daughter of a deportee raised by a single mother" and pushed a $25 minimum wage, universal legal representation in immigration court, and finishing the lead cleanup from the shuttered Exide battery plant. Israel became the sharpest dividing line: Gonzales-Torres ran in part out of frustration over Gomez's refusal to support the Block the Bombs Act, which would restrict U.S. weapons transfers.
Gomez finished first in the six-candidate June primary with about 46% of the vote. Gonzales-Torres took 30.7%. Republican Calvin Lee placed third with about 13.7% and that was that for the GOP in this district.
The left's endorsement machinery locked in early. Former DNC co-vice chairman David Hogg and former Rep. Jamaal Bowman lined up behind Gonzales-Torres. The DSA and Justice Democrats aren't playing defense — they're playing to replace anyone who doesn't pass the ideological purity test, and they just proved it works.
The open question: when does the Republican base get leadership willing to do the same thing in reverse — or at least stop actively kneecapping the candidates who try?
