LOS ANGELES – Within the struggle for the U.S. Home, Democrats are hoping pop rock star energy will assist oust a long-serving Republican east of Los Angeles because the celebration seems to regain management of the chamber and sluggish President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Tim Myers, a Grammy-nominated former bassist for worldwide hitmakers OneRepublic, introduced Thursday he’ll problem Rep. Ken Calvert within the battleground forty first District in Riverside County that stretches from the L.A. suburbs to the resort haven of Palm Springs.
“Ken Calvert has been in Washington for 30 years,” Myers says in a video asserting his marketing campaign. The “establishment is not working.”
Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the marketing campaign arm of Home Republicans, stated in a press release that “Democrat Tim Myers is every thing improper with as we speak’s radical left: a Hollywood liberal attempting to faux his manner into Riverside County.”
Myers grew up in Corona, most of which is within the district, however now lives in neighboring Los Angeles County.
At a time when aggressive Home contests have gotten scarcer nationwide, Democrats think about Calvert’s carefully divided California district one of many celebration’s finest alternatives to realize floor within the chamber, the place Republicans maintain a fragile 220-213 majority.
With Congress and the White Home underneath Republican management — and Democrats going through an uphill struggle to take the Senate in 2026 — the California contest will carry added significance as Democrats maneuver to retake the Home to offer a counterweight to the Trump administration on points from immigration to the setting.
Myers, a prolific producer, songwriter and solo artist, is positioning himself as a change agent in a race in opposition to one of the crucial senior members of the Home. The 40-year-old Myers stated he was in second grade when Calvert, the longest-serving Republican within the state’s congressional delegation, was first elected in 1992.
Within the video that seems to have been filmed in a recording studio, Myers remembers rising up a pastor’s son in Corona, on the western fringe of the Southern California district. He recounts the ups-and-downs of the notoriously cutthroat music enterprise that finally led him to discovered his personal report label. He now lives within the tony enclave of Hidden Hills in neighboring Los Angeles County, a preferred redoubt for musicians and actors.
Myers berates Trump insurance policies that he says will damage veterans and drive up client costs.
“Our neighborhood is being priced out of homeownership, groceries are costlier each week and we’re consistently underneath menace from wildfires and rising crime,” Myers stated in a press release. “It’s time for a change.”
Republicans maintain a slim registration benefit within the district — lower than 2 factors over Democrats — and Calvert has beat again robust challenges within the final two elections. Calvert prevailed by a few 3-point edge in 2024, the identical yr Trump carried the district by 6 factors over Democrat Kamala Harris, the previous California U.S. senator and legal professional basic.
The marketing campaign arm of Home Democrats has named Calvert a prime goal for 2026, as he was in 2024. Calvert’s marketing campaign raised over $1.3 million the primary quarter of 2025.
California is called a liberal protectorate. Democrats maintain each statewide workplace, dominate the Legislature and congressional delegation and outnumber registered Republicans by a staggering 2-1 ratio. Nonetheless, Republicans retain pockets of political clout within the Southern California suburbs and huge rural stretches, together with the Central Valley farm belt.
In 2024, a tricky yr for Democrats nationally, the celebration picked up three GOP-held Home seats in California.
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