LOS ANGELES – Republican Michelle Steel defeated first-term Rep. Harley Rouda on Tuesday in a Southern California district, only the second time in more than two decades that a GOP candidate in the state has defeated an incumbent Democrat. Rouda captured Orange County’s 48th District in 2018 from longtime Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, part of a Democratic sweep of seven House seats in California that year. Steel, who heads the Orange County Board of Supervisors, benefited from the district’s Republican registration edge and also surmounted widespread distaste for Trump in the strongly Democratic state. In the 25th District north of Los Angeles, Republican Rep. Mike Garcia is narrowly trailing Democrat Christy Smith. Orange County this year is one of the crucial House battlegrounds in California and the U.S.

And GOP candidates need to win back suburbanites who recoiled from the Trump agenda in 2018 and helped return the House to Democratic control. But Issa’s once strongly Republican district became increasingly friendly for Democrats and he nearly lost his seat in 2016 before deciding not to run in 2018. Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda captured the district in an upset of longtime Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in 2018, as suburban voters nationally rejected the Trump label. First-term Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros is looking to hold off Young Kim, the Republican he narrowly defeated two years ago to snatch the seat long held by Republican Rep. Ed Royce. Kim, a former legislator who was born in South Korea and grew up in Guam, has depicted the congressman as subservient to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange take part in a protest outside the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in London, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. The London court hearing on Assange's extradition from Britain to the United States resumed Monday after a COVID-19 test on one of the participating lawyers came back negative, WikiLeaks said Friday. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)LONDON – A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told a London court that her client was indirectly offered a “win-win” deal by President Donald Trump that would see him avoid extradition to the U.S. if he revealed the source of a leak of documents from the Democratic Party before the 2016 election. James Lewis, a lawyer acting on behalf of the U.S. government, said it wasn't contesting that “these things” were said. Assange has been in a British prison since his ejection from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in April 2019.

But there’s a smaller category of lawmakers like Peterson and GOP Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio who also merit attention: long-term incumbents of both parties fighting to preserve their careers. Over 90% of House incumbents are usually reelected, thanks to name recognition and campaign fundraising advantages. “There are people who traditionally voted Republican who don't identify with the current Republican Party," Schroder, 43, a businesswoman and local public health official, said in an interview. Democratic and Republican campaign committees and other organizations allied with party leadership are aiming the bulk of their spending at each others' softest seats and defending vulnerable incumbents. The Congressional Leadership Fund, aligned with House GOP leadership, planned to spend $3.3 million more, which Republicans said could grow.

Spanish lawyer Baltasar Garzon, who is part of Assange's legal team, second left, arrives at Spain's National Court in Madrid, Spain, Monday, July 27, 2020. Spain's National Court is due to hear testimony Monday in an investigation into whether a Spanish company was hired to spy on Julian Assange during the seven years the Wikileaks founder spent in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)MADRID Spains National Court is due to hear testimony Monday in an investigation into whether a Spanish company was hired to spy on Julian Assange during the seven years the WikiLeaks founder spent in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. Staff of the Spanish security company are due to testify on Tuesday. Assanges legal team says the court has asked U.S. authorities to question Lahav and Rohrabacher on its behalf.