Democrat Kermit Jones faces off against Republican state Rep. Kevin Kiley in California's 3rd Congressional District election

• Democrat Kermit Jones is running against Republican state Rep. Kevin Kiley in California's 3rd Congressional District.
• The 3rd District stretches hundreds of miles from Death Valley up through Plumas County.

Republican Kevin Kiley faces off against Democrat Kermit Jones in California's 3rd Congressional District.

The district does not have an incumbent after it was redrawn during California's redistricting process.

California's 3rd Congressional District candidates

Kiley currently serves in the California State Assembly. He was elected to the seat in 2016 and ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 2019. He voted against placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot to explicitly protect abortion rights in California.

Last year, the Rocklin Republican placed sixth — with 3.5% of the vote — in the crowded field of candidates in the unsuccessful election to recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Prior to being elected to the State Assembly, Kiley also served as California's deputy attorney general.

Jones is a physician and Navy veteran who served as a flight surgeon for a Marine helicopter squadron in Iraq. After his deployment, he served as a White House fellow in the Obama administration, working with the Secretary of Health & Human Services to improve the quality of care for veterans.

Jones supports federal protection for abortion access: He told the Los Angeles Times that "banning abortion goes against our most sacred, American principles of self-determination."

Voting history for California's 3rd Congressional District

California's 3rd Congressional District stretches hundreds of miles from Death Valley up through Plumas County and includes some Sacramento suburbs.

President Donald Trump had a 5.4 percentage point margin of victory over Joe Biden under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before the once-in-a-decade redistricting process following the 2020 Census made it slightly less Republican.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, the two candidates have raised and spent almost identical amounts of money.

Jones has raised $2.94 million, spent $2.7 million, and has $151,000 cash on hand, as of October 19. His opponent, Kiley, has raised $2.95 million, spent $2.79 million, and has $243,000 still left to spend, as of October 19.

As of November 4, super PACs, national party committees, and other non-candidate groups had collectively spent only about $504,000 to advocate for or against this race's candidates, including in the primary election phase. This is a relatively small amount compared to other US House races where such groups have together spent well into the millions of dollars.

What experts say

The race between Jones and Kiley is rated as "likely Republican" by Inside Elections, "likely Republican" by The Cook Political Report, and "likely Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.