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Longtime Rep. Ken Calvert has survived a fierce reelection battle against fellow Republican Rep. Young Kim to represent a newly drawn Southern California congressional district.

The Associated Press on Monday evening declared Calvert the winner in the narrowly divided race, a week after the Nov. 3 election. Calvert had declared victory on Thursday, though Kim did not concede.

The two fought over one of the state’s last “safe” Republican areas, a red district spanning Orange and Riverside counties. Both supporters of President Trump, the two were viewed as friendly allies before the race.

The district was redrawn under Proposition 50, the voter-backed initiative to boost the Democratic Party’s numbers in the U.S. House of Representatives after Trump cajoled Texas into carving out districts more favorable to Republicans. The reconfigured congressional districts under Proposition 50, placed on the ballot by the Democratic-led state Legislature, put both Calvert and Kim in the same district, ensuring one would be knocked off. Calvert is from Corona and Kim from Anaheim Hills.

Calvert, 73, retained about half of his constituents in the redrawn district, giving him an edge. Kim, 64, kept about a third of hers.

Calvert was first elected to Congress in 1992, making him the longest-serving GOP member of California’s congressional delegation. He serves as a senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations and is chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Kim, a prolific fundraiser who defeated Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros in 2020 after losing to him two years earlier, outspent Calvert in the race, amassing a massive war chest of $10 million to Calvert’s $7 million.

Americans 4 Security PAC spent more than $6 million to get Calvert reelected, including by sending out fliers to Democratic voters linking Kim and Trump. Though both candidates back Trump, the fliers sought to dissuade Democrats from backing Kim.

The PAC’s donors include two executives from Miami-based Palantir, whose software is used by the U.S. military, among its donors.

The 40th District reaches from Mission Viejo in Orange County into Woodcrest, Menifee and Murrieta in Riverside County.

Registered Republicans make up less than 40% of registered voters in the redrawn district. An additional 21% are no-party-preference voters, according to statistics from the California secretary of state’s office. Democratic voters account for about 31% of the district.

NEW YORK — Elon Musk, the world’s only trillionaire, has quietly become the biggest known donor in this year’s midterm elections, doling out more than $276 million since July to try to save Republican majorities in Congress.

The numbers, first reported by the New York Times ahead of this week’s federal filing deadline, were confirmed by Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Musk’s super PAC.

The money includes $158 million given to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates, one of the largest known political donations in American history, according to the Times.

Another $76 million went to America PAC, a Musk super PAC, which has once again built out a major turnout operation like the one it used to help elect President Trump by knocking on doors in 2024.

Musk also provided $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a group that supports the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas, Ken Paxton. The race has been a major focus of Musk’s efforts.

It’s a dramatic turnaround since last May, when Musk said he intended to cut back on future political spending. “I think I’ve done enough,” he said at the time.

Despite the cash infusion, Musk has generally kept a lower profile than in 2024, when he appeared on stage next to Trump at rallies, and in the early days of the president’s second term, when he led the Department of Government Efficiency.

He had a falling out with Trump while leaving his government post, but the two have since reconciled. Trump presented Musk with the National Medal of Science last week.

Musk’s net worth has fluctuated around the trillion-dollar line this year based on changes in stock prices, but he topped $1 trillion again last week according to Forbes magazine.

Republican have a gaping financial advantage over their Democratic counterparts — a disparity that has been a rare bright spot for a party that is bracing for major potential losses amid deep voter frustration over the president’s performance, stubbornly high prices and the unpopular war with Iran.

They have been using the money to blanket the airwaves in the race’s final stretch.

“These robust investments have allowed the G.O.P. apparatus to get its message out so Republicans can have a fighting chance to defy history,” Romeo told the Times.

Democrats responded to the news by accusing Republicans of using vast amounts of cash to mask their shortcomings.

“Republicans are hoping to buy these elections, injecting tens of millions into races to try and outrun their unpopular candidates, unpopular president, and unpopular economy,” said Lauren French, a spokesperson for Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC.

Colvin writes for the Associated Press.