On September 25th, the USC Schwarzenegger Institute partnered with the USC Price School of Public Policy and USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences for a special webinar titled A House Up for Grabs. The webinar featured experts from multiple universities including USC Schwarzenegger Institute academic director Christian Grose, Assistant Professor at California State University, Long Beach Matthew Mendez Garcia, Assistant Professor at Cal Poly Pomona Jarred Cuellar, and USC PhD Candidate Raquel Centeno. The panel was moderated by KQED’s Marisa Lagos.
During the discussion, Grose and others discussed the competitive House of Representatives seat races in California and how various factors could influence voting in both local elections and the presidential election. They also discussed what issues voters are most focused on this election cycle including the economy. Grose concluded, based on his data, that the control of Congress could come down to six competitive districts in California. Four of these districts are in southern California and two are in the Central Valley. While California may not be competitive at the presidential level, it has more competitive congressional districts than any other state in 2024.