George Whitesides ’96 wins House seat, flipping California’s 27th District blue

George Whitesides ’96 has won the election for California’s 27th District in the House of Representatives, flipping the seat back for the Democratic Party. The Associated Press called the race Tuesday night. He defeated incumbent Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA), who conceded the race on Monday.

Whitesides became the eighth Princetonian to be elected to Congress this year. He is also the third Princetonian elected to the House or Senate for the first time this year, joining Herb Conaway ’85, who filled the Congressional seat for New Jersey’s 3rd District vacated by Senator-elect Andy Kim, and David McCormick GS ’96, who defeated incumbent Democrat Bob Casey to flip the Pennsylvania’s Senate seat red.

The race was especially close, with Whitesides winning 51.3 percent of the vote and leading Garcia by less than 8,000 votes as of publication. It was one of few races still left uncalled a week after Election Day.

In a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday night, Whitesides wrote that being elected was “the honor of a lifetime.”

“In Congress, you can count on me to fight to create more good local jobs, lower everyday costs, build safe communities, protect Social Security and Medicare, and protect reproductive freedom,” he wrote.

Democrats saw the 27th District as a potential pick-up opportunity as the only Republican seat in Los Angeles County. Following the 2020 census, the 27th District was redistricted from the 25th, which voted for President Biden and Hillary Clinton. Prior to Garcia, the seat was held by Democrat Katie Hill, who resigned after allegations that she had an inappropriate relationship with a member of her campaign staff.

Whitesides served as the Chief of Staff for NASA during the Obama administration before leaving in 2010 to serve as the CEO of Virgin Galactic, the space travel wing of Richard Branson’s Virgin group.

At Princeton, Whitesides studied in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, now SPIA. He was also the co-President of his Senior Class and President of the Footnotes acapella group, as well as a member of the Cap and Gown Club. Upon graduation, Whitesides served on the Princeton Board of Trustees as a Young Alumni Trustee from 1996 to 2000. Additionally, he served on the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Advisory Council.

Despite concentrating in the Woodrow Wilson School, Whitesides previously told The Daily Princetonian that he originally planned on being an engineer, citing MAE 399: Faster & Higher — The Romance and Reality of Space Flight as a class that was particularly important to his academic development.

“It allowed you to sort of think through a space project from all aspects, not just the technical, but also business, and regulatory and everything, and I loved that integrative approach,” Whitesides told the ‘Prince’ in 2017.

He also told the ‘Prince’ in 2003 how Princeton impacted his career — before his stint at NASA, Virgin Galactic, and now Congress.

“Princeton certainly emphasized a sense of service,” Whitesides said then. “It also expanded my life in terms of involving me in what's going on in the rest of the world.”