By Karen Cross, NRL Political Director
With so much focus on COVID-19 and the 2020 elections, it is critically important that the special elections do not get overlooked. There is a special general election in California’s 25th Congressional District coming up next month to replace pro-abortion Rep. Katie Hill (D), who resigned in November.
It is a classic pro-life versus pro-abortion contest.
National Right to Life has endorsed pro-life Navy fighter pilot Mike Garcia (R) who will square off against pro-abortion Democrat Assemblywoman Christy Smith.
On April 10, the race was changed from “leans Democrat” to a tossup by Cook Political Report.
There is a huge difference between the candidates on the life issue.
Mike Garcia opposes abortion on demand, and he opposes using tax dollars to pay for abortion. As he explains his position, “I served in the military to protect and defend the lives of Americans…There’s no way my conscience and morality would allow me to support the killing of unborn Americans in the womb.”

Mike Garcia supports the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This legislation protects unborn children by prohibiting abortion at 20 weeks, a point by which the unborn child is capable of experiencing great pain when being killed by dismemberment or other late abortion methods.
Mike Garcia supports the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act that would provide equal medical care to a baby who survives an abortion.
In contrast, pro-abortion Democrat Christy Smith supports a policy of abortion on demand, which allows abortion for any reason. And she wants taxpayers to pay for those abortions. She is so extreme on this issue that she is supported by the pro-abortion PAC EMILY’s List (which supports only the most extreme pro-abortion Democrat women) and NARAL Pro-Choice America.
“The winner of this special election will become a member of Congress immediately,” said Brian Johnston, executive director of the California Pro-Life Council. “They will then stand for reelection this coming November as the incumbent.”
Johnston added, “Mike Garcia is a 100% pro-life advocate while Christy Smith is a 100% pro-abortion advocate which she has demonstrated as Assemblywoman and is supported by EMILY’s List, Planned Parenthood, and their ilk.”
In March, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order by which every registered voter in the district is expected to receive a Vote-by-Mail ballot. There will be nine in-person voting centers at yet-to-be-determined sites, and 22 drop box locations for voting by mail.
“We are urging all pro-lifers in the district to cast their vote by mail now, and in turn, to employ the ‘Rule of Seven’: contact by phone at least six other prolife individuals in the district—family, friends from church, any other local pro-lifer they know—and ensure that they too have mailed their ballot for Mike Garcia,” Johnston said. “This Rule of Seven promises exponential return when the votes are counted.”
