Which California congressional districts flipped parties in the 2022 and 2024 elections?

1. Why Adam Gray’s 13th District win matters — a swing seat returns to Democrats

Adam Gray’s victory in California’s 13th Congressional District ended a sequence of razor-thin contests and shifted the seat back to Democrats for the 2024 Congress. Reporting indicates Gray beat incumbent Republican John Duarte by just 187 votes after mail ballots were counted, a margin that flipped the seat for Democrats and was consequential for control math in the House ^{[1] [3]}. The same coverage notes that Gray had lost to Duarte by 564 votes in 2022, which means the district changed party control twice across two cycles: from Democrat to Republican in 2022 and back to Democrat in 2024. This pattern identifies the 13th as a highly competitive swing district where small vote shifts determined party control over successive elections ^[2].

2. Other Democratic gains in 2024 — Orange County and northern Los Angeles County swings

Beyond the 13th District, reporting attributes two additional Democratic pickups in 2024 to challengers who flipped open or incumbent-held seats in Orange County and northern Los Angeles County — identified as victories by Derek Tran and George Whitesides respectively ^[1]. The summaries indicate these were part of a modest Democratic net gain in California federal races, though they do not itemize the precise district numbers or the 2022 incumbency status for each race. The reporting frames these wins as part of a late-count movement toward Democrats in California’s congressional outcomes, underscoring localized turnout and ballot-count timing as decisive factors in tight contests ^[1].

3. What the sources say — strengths and notable gaps in the record

The assembled sources reliably document the 2024 flip in the 13th and report two other Democratic pickups, but they do not provide a comprehensive, corroborated list of all California congressional districts that flipped parties across both 2022 and 2024 cycles ^{[1] [2] [3]}. One source explicitly notes Duarte’s 2022 victory over Gray by 564 votes, allowing an inference that the 13th changed party control in 2022 and again in 2024 ^[2]. Other reporting focuses on the potential map effects of California’s Proposition 50 and how redistricting could affect future flips, but does not catalogue past flips in 2022 ^{[4] [5]}. The reporting therefore leaves unanswered which other specific districts shifted in 2022 without resorting to external election databases.

4. Prop 50 and framing — why some coverage stresses map mechanics over past flips

Coverage of California’s Proposition 50 emphasizes how temporary map changes could alter partisan prospects for five GOP incumbents and make certain Democratic incumbents safer under a revised map, highlighting institutional drivers of future flips rather than cataloging past ones ^{[4] [5]}. That reporting signals an agenda: media outlets and advocates frame redistricting as the key lever for future partisan shifts, which can crowd out straightforward accounting of which districts actually flipped in 2022 and 2024. This focus explains why some articles discuss who is at risk under a new map rather than listing historical turnover, creating an informational gap between map-driven forecasts and concrete, contemporaneous election results ^[4].

5. Reconciling the record — what we can say confidently and what remains to be verified

From the sourced material we can confidently state that Adam Gray’s 2024 victory flipped the 13th Congressional District back to Democrats after Duarte had won it in 2022, and that Democrats claimed at least two other California pickups in 2024 ^{[1] [2] [3]}. What remains unverified in the supplied sources is a complete, district-level inventory of all California House flips in 2022 and 2024. For a definitive list, one must consult official statewide canvass results or comprehensive election trackers that aggregate district-level incumbency changes across both cycles; the current reporting raises questions and documents key examples but does not close the book on every flip ^{[6] [7]}.

6. What to check next — sources to fill the gaps and confirm a full flip list

To finish a comprehensive, verifiable list of California districts that flipped parties in 2022 and 2024, consult official California Secretary of State certified results and national election aggregators that log incumbency and party control changes by district for each cycle. The current articles point to specific flips and to redistricting debates that affect future control, but leave room for systematic verification from canvass data and nonpartisan trackers to enumerate every district that changed hands across both elections ^{[4] [1] [7]}.