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WASHINGTON A new organization launched Monday argues that the road to a Democratic majority in the U.S. House runs through red California.

Red to Blue California PAC wants to help Democrats take back the chamber in 2018 by supporting and mobilizing Democrats challenging Republican incumbents in seven congressional districts that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton carried in last years presidential race. Democrats need a net gain of 24 seats for a majority in the House.

The PACs founder, Michael Eggman, is a Democrat, farmer and beekeeper in Californias Central Valley who ran twice against Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) in a district Democrats had hoped to flip. The idea came to him after he narrowly lost in last years bid against Denham, whose district voted for Clinton (and for President Barack Obama before that).

The PAC will focus on advising candidates on the mechanics of running campaigns, from online fundraising to speaking at events, guidance Eggman wished he had before his first congressional bid.

You can have the best message in the world, but if you dont have the resources to get that message out, or if you dont have the proper platform to communicate your message, its not going to do you any good, Eggman told HuffPost.

In designing an effective message, its important for candidates to recognize the nuances of that specific district, Eggman said.

The competitive districts and Republican incumbents the PAC is focusing on are:

10th District: Jeff Denham

21st District: David Valadao

25th District: Steve Knight

39th District: Ed Royce

45th District: Mimi Walters

48th District: Dana Rohrabacher

49th District: Darrell Issa

All seven GOP representatives voted for House Republicans health care bill in May, an issue Eggman pointed to as evidence of the divide between the representatives and their constituents.

These reps are standing with [President Donald] Trump and not the constituents of their district, Eggman said. Their constituents dont share Trumps values, and it seems like these reps do.

Several of the districts are in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, a Republican stronghold that last yearwent for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1936.

In several of the seven races, Democratic candidates have alreadythrown their hats in the ring, buoyed by increased party activism.

Eggman said the PAC is not likely to endorse any specific candidates until after the primaries, but could intervene on a case-by-case basis if there is a particularly competitive primary.

Red to Blue California will also fund and train Democratic candidates vying for local office, to help them learn how to run sophisticated and efficient campaigns on the local level and to build a network of future leaders.

We want to pay attention to the bench, which is something that hasnt been done on our side of the aisle. Of course, Republicans have been doing it for a couple decades, and I would attribute that to a lot of their success, Eggman said.

Its great that a beekeeper ran for Congress, but it would have been better that a beekeeper that was also a county supervisor, that had already had a constituency footprint, ran for Congress. That would have given me a tremendous advantage.

Fresh off defeats in several special elections that had been seen as bellwethers for the 2018 midterms, particularly last Tuesdays race in Georgias 6th Congressional District, Democrats nationally are at a crossroads.

But Eggman pointed out that, in those special elections, Democrats made significant improvements compared to prior elections and overperformed in some cases, by double digits.

If we did double-digit gains in all seven of these seats, then we win. I am very hopeful, but Im in it for the long haul too, he said, noting that he would not see it as a loss if Democrats did not pick up all seven seats in 2018. Youve got to be resilient.

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Why This Democrat Is Focusing On California In Fight To Take Back The House In 2018 - HuffPost