无论结果如何，明年加利福尼亚州至少有六七个众议院选区都会选出民主党人进入国会。不过，民主党领导层仍对选举结果极为看重。
More than half a dozen U.S. House districts in California will send a Democrat to Capitol Hill next year no matter what. Party leadership still has a lot riding on the outcome.
为何此事至关重要：这些竞选大多为民主党人之间的对决——这是加利福尼亚州选举制度特有的现象——对决双方分别是党内主流派候选人以及誓言要让领导层头疼不已的异见人士。
Why it matters: Most of these Democrat vs. Democrat runoffs — a quirk of California's election system — are between an establishment candidate and an outsider vowing to make leadership's life hell.
现任民主党众议员迈克·汤普森、多丽丝·松井以及吉米·戈麦斯都面临着来自更年轻、与党内主流派关系较疏远的民主党人的强力挑战，这些挑战者的资金实力也相当雄厚。
Democratic Reps. Mike Thompson, Doris Matsui and Jimmy Gomez are all facing well-funded challenges from younger, less establishment-aligned Democrats.
在北加利福尼亚州的多个选区，支持领导层的民主党人正与立场更为左倾的对手展开较量。
There are also several Northern California races that feature a pro-leadership Democrat facing off against a more left-leaning rival.
针对此事的采访请求，众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯（纽约州民主党人）的发言人贾斯汀·切尔莫尔回复Axios称：“别再用这些与夺回众议院控制权毫无关联的无关内容来浪费我们的时间了。”
第四选区：众议员迈克·汤普森对阵埃里克·琼斯。1998年首次当选、现年75岁的汤普森此次面临35岁的前风险投资家埃里克·琼斯的挑战。
Sought for comment on this story, Justin Chermol, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), told Axios: "Stop wasting our time with your irrelevant stories that have nothing to do with taking back control of the House of Representatives." 4th District: Rep. Mike Thompson vs. Eric Jones Thompson, a 75-year-old first elected in 1998, faces a challenge from 35-year-old former venture capitalist Eric Jones.
“我认为如今民主党领导层中没几个人能称得上尽职尽责，”琼斯在接受Axios采访时说道。
"I don't think anyone in Democratic leadership today is really doing their job well," Jones said in an interview with Axios.
当被问及是否会投票支持杰弗里斯担任众议院议长时，琼斯答道：“目前来说，我不会投票给任何一位议员。”
Asked if he would vote for Jeffries as speaker, Jones replied: "As of today, I wouldn't vote for any member."
琼斯正试图组建一个由进步派和共和党人共同参与的民粹主义反主流派联盟。他表示自己并不认同“进步派”这一标签，并称自己更倾向于“不贴任何标签”。
Jones is trying to cobble together a populist, anti-establishment coalition consisting of both progressives and Republicans. He said he does not identify as progressive, telling Axios he prefers "no labels."
他还称，如果成功当选，自己将享有“独立性优势……不会接受党派资金，也不会按党派路线投票。”
第七选区：众议员多丽丝·松井对阵梅·王。今年6月的初选中，松井仅位列第二，落后于梅·王，因此被视为处境尤为不利。
He said that, if elected, he will "have the benefit of independence ... of not taking party money, and I'm not going to vote a party line." 7th District: Rep. Doris Matsui vs. Mai Vang Matsui, 85, is seen as particularly vulnerable after finishing second to Mai Vang in the jungle primary election in June.
范格是一位40多岁的进步派人士，现任萨克拉门托市议员。她与一批隶属于“美国民主社会主义者”组织的候选人站在一边，这些候选人包括达里阿里扎·阿维拉·谢瓦利埃、克里斯·拉布以及梅拉特·基罗斯。
Vang, a progressive Sacramento City Councilmember in her 40s, has positioned herself alongside a new bloc of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-aligned candidates including Darializa Avila Chevalier, Chris Rabb and Melat Kiros.
此前她曾向Axios透露，自己不会投票支持杰弗里斯担任众议院议长，称自己“无法支持这种领导方式”，并强调“我们需要新的领导层与新的发展方向”。第11选区：斯科特·维纳对阵康妮·陈州参议员斯科特·维纳与旧金山市监事康妮·陈为争夺前众议院议长南希·佩洛西留下的席位展开激烈角逐。
She previously signaled to Axios she won't vote for Jeffries as speaker, saying she "cannot support this kind of leadership" and that "we need new leadership and a new direction." 11th District: Scott Wiener vs. Connie Chan The fight between state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been particularly bitter.
康妮·陈的立场比维纳更为左倾。维纳虽长期被视为进步派人士，却因对以色列的批评力度不够而遭到亲巴勒斯坦运动人士的指责。
Chan has positioned herself to the left of Wiener, a longtime progressive who has come under fire from the pro-Palestinian movement for being insufficiently critical of Israel.
维纳对《Mission Local》表示，他“期待看到哈基姆·杰弗里斯出任议长”。康妮·陈则回应称：“任何议长候选人，包括哈基姆·杰弗里斯，都必须努力争取我的选票。”第14选区：众议员艾莎·瓦哈布对阵梅利莎·埃尔南德斯艾莎·瓦哈布是一位进步派前州参议员，她在8月份举行的特别选举中击败了立场较为温和的加州都柏林市前市长梅利莎·埃尔南德斯，接替前众议员埃里克·斯瓦尔韦尔的职位。如今两人正为争取完整任期展开较量。
Wiener told Mission Local he looks "forward to electing Hakeem Jeffries speaker." Chan told the outlet that "any candidate for speaker, including Hakeem Jeffries, will have to earn my vote." 14th District: Rep. Aisha Wahab vs. Melissa Hernandez Wahab, a progressive former state senator, defeated Hernandez, the more moderate former mayor of Dublin, California, in an August special election to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell. The two are now duking it out for a full term.
瓦哈布早已展现出敢于违抗领导层意志的特质：据《星期日泰晤士报》报道，她没有听从佩洛西与杰弗里斯的安排让其他“代理候选人”无竞争参选，而是亲自出马参选。
Wahab has already shown her willingness to buck leadership: She defied Pelosi and Jeffries by running in the special election instead of allowing a "caretaker" to run unopposed, according to The Sunday Times.
对于各自的候选人是否会投票支持杰弗里斯担任议长这一问题，瓦哈布与埃尔南德斯的竞选团队均未作出回应。第34选区：众议员吉米·戈麦斯对阵安吉拉·冈萨雷斯-托雷斯今年8月，众议院道德委员会因性不当行为指控对戈麦斯展开调查，他本人坚决否认这些指控，此事令他饱受非议。
The Wahab and Hernandez campaigns did not respond to questions about whether their candidates would vote for Jeffries as speaker. 34th District: Rep. Jimmy Gomez vs. Angela Gonzales-Torres Gomez has come under fire after the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into him in August over allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies.
长期以来，戈麦斯一直是左翼势力的攻击目标。自2020年起，民主党人戴维·金连续三次在初选中向他发起挑战，但戈麦斯均以2%至11%的微弱优势成功胜出。
He has been a longtime target of the left, having survived three consecutive primary challenges from Democrat David Kim since 2020 by 2 to 11 percentage points.
这一次，他面临着安吉拉·冈萨雷斯-托雷斯的挑战。后者是一位立场偏左翼的当地社区议员，得到了许多与支持范格和瓦哈布相同的左翼团体的青睐。
This time he faces a challenge from Angela Gonzales-Torres, a progressive local neighborhood councilor backed by many of the same left-wing groups that support Vang and Wahab.
在接受Axios采访时，当被问及是否会投票给杰弗里斯担任众议院议长时，冈萨雷斯-托雷斯表示，她期待“支持那些并未得到企业超级政治行动委员会大量资助的领导人”。她提到自己得到了民主社会主义者联盟的支持，并称自己属于以阿维拉·谢瓦利埃、拉布和基罗斯为代表的“全国性进步派阵营”的一员。
Gonzales-Torres, asked in an interview with Axios if she would vote for Jeffries as speaker, said she looks forward to "supporting leaders who are not nearly funded by corporate super PACs." Gonzales-Torres, pointing to her support from DSA, said she considers herself part of the "national slate" of progressive insurgents such as Avila Chevalier, Rabb and Kiros.
“目前我们正集中精力赢得这次选举，希望作为新一届国会议员能够发挥我们的议价能力，”她说。
"Right now [what] we are focusing on is winning this election and hopefully getting to be part of utilizing our bargaining power as this incoming class in Congress," she said.
总而言之：明年1月进入国会的对杰弗里斯持怀疑态度的民主党人越多，民主党领导层面临的处境就越艰难。
The bottom line: The larger the bloc of Jeffries skeptics that arrives on Capitol Hill in January, the worse a time Democratic leadership will have.
不过，民主党可能获得的多数席位规模能在很大程度上缓解这一局面。但正如Axios此前报道的那样，许多在共和党优势选区参选的民主党候选人也依然保持着独立于领导层的立场。
That could be tempered to a large degree by the size of Democrats' potential majority, but, as Axios previously reported, many red-seat candidates are also maintaining their independence from leadership.
尽管如此，几乎没有民主党人认为杰弗里斯最终会无缘众议院议长之位。真正充满变数的，是之后的种种斗争。
Still, few Democrats think Jeffries will ultimately be denied the speakership. The fights that come after are more uncertain.