In a rebuke to Trump policies, Democratic candidate Katie Porter – a favorite of liberals – has apparently defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in California's historically conservative Orange County, according to NBC News.
The result came more than a week after Election Day. Democrats have now gained 36 seats in the House, according to NBC, more than enough for the majority.
Porter, a consumer advocate lawyer and law professor, will represent California's 45th Congressional District, which includes Irvine, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo and parts of Anaheim Hills. It has one of the highest median household income levels nationally – more than $100,000, according to data from the Census Bureau.
Porter ran a campaign that framed Walters as a "rubber stamp" of President Donald Trump's agenda on everything from taxes and health care to the environment. She also attacked the incumbent for trying to take away coverage of pre-existing conditions and for accepting campaign contributions from drug companies while not doing enough to lower the price of prescription drugs.
For her part, Walters defended her support of Trump's policies, including GOP tax overhaul as well as the push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. She also depicted Porter – a protégé of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat - as an extreme liberal and "out of step" with constituents.
Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by a seven-point margin in the district, which went for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Porter raised nearly three times more than Walters in the third quarter.