Democrats and Republicans agreed on at least one thing before November's election: California would play a central role in determining which party controls the U.S. House.

Democrat Derek Tran has defeated two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel in a Southern California House district that was specifically drawn to give Asian Americans a stronger voice on Capitol Hill.

In the most contested races for control of the U.S. House, many Republican candidates are speaking up about women’s rights to abortion access and reproductive care in new and surprising ways.

U.S. House battles are taking shape that could tip the balance of power in Congress.

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. Steel won about 51% of the votes in a year when Joe Biden trounced President Donald Trump in the state. 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.

In the Republican-leaning California 48th Congressional District in Orange County, Republican challenger Michelle Steel has talked about taxes, while Rouda has focused on health care and prescription drug costs. The pattern is similar outside Philadelphia, where GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick accuses Democratic challenger Christina Finelo of supporting police defunding. Wagner has voted for bills that would have ended the coverage that former President Barack Obama’s health care law guarantees people with preexisting conditions. Freitas has said he thinks government intrusion into health care doesn't help. Democrats have run health care themed ads against Republicans in numerous states including Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska and Texas.

(AP Photo/Sait Serkan Gurbuz, File)LOS ANGELES Republican candidates eager for a turnaround in heavily Democratic California are spotlighting what they see as a dire threat to families and communities their own states policies. If Joe Biden says hes fighting for the soul of America, Republican candidates say they are fighting for the soul of California. Yet, in an election year that could produce a record Democratic turnout in California, Republican chances of gaining ground are uncertain at best. The California Republican Party was once a national powerhouse, and Orange County was a foundation block in the conservative revolution that sent the former California Gov. The numbers are witnessed at the ballot box: The GOP hasnt won a statewide election since 2006 and George H.W.