In the fight for the U.S. House, Democrats are hoping pop rock star power will help oust a long-serving Republican east of Los Angeles as the party looks to regain control of the chamber and slow President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Tim Myers, a Grammy-nominated former bassist for international hitmakers OneRepublic, announced Thursday he will challenge Rep. Ken Calvert in the battleground 41st District in Riverside County that stretches from the L.A. suburbs to the resort haven of Palm Springs.
“Ken Calvert has been in Washington for 30 years,” Myers says in a video announcing his campaign. The “status quo isn’t working.”
Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the campaign arm of House Republicans, said in a statement that “Democrat Tim Myers is everything wrong with today’s radical left: a Hollywood liberal trying to fake his way into Riverside County.”
Myers grew up in Corona, most of which is in the district, but now lives in neighboring Los Angeles County.
At a time when competitive House contests are becoming scarcer nationwide, Democrats consider Calvert’s closely divided California district one of the party’s best opportunities to gain ground in the chamber, where Republicans hold a fragile 220-213 majority.
With Congress and the White House under Republican control — and Democrats facing an uphill fight to take the Senate in 2026 — the California contest will carry added importance as Democrats maneuver to retake the House to provide a counterweight to the Trump administration on issues from immigration to the environment.
Myers, a prolific producer, songwriter and solo artist, is positioning himself as a change agent in a race against one of the most senior members of the House. The 40-year-old Myers said he was in second grade when Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, was first elected in 1992.
In the video that appears to have been filmed in a recording studio, Myers recalls growing up a pastor’s son in Corona, on the western edge of the Southern California district. He recounts the ups-and-downs of the notoriously cutthroat music business that eventually led him to found his own record label. He now lives in the tony enclave of Hidden Hills in neighboring Los Angeles County, a popular redoubt for musicians and actors.
Myers berates Trump policies that he says will hurt veterans and drive up consumer prices.
“Our community is being priced out of homeownership, groceries are more expensive every week and we’re constantly under threat from wildfires and rising crime,” Myers said in a statement. “It’s time for a change.”
Republicans hold a slim registration advantage in the district — less than 2 points over Democrats — and Calvert has beat back tough challenges in the last two elections. Calvert prevailed by about a 3-point edge in 2024, the same year Trump carried the district by 6 points over Democrat Kamala Harris, the former California U.S. senator and attorney general.
The campaign arm of House Democrats has named Calvert a top target for 2026, as he was in 2024. Calvert’s campaign raised over $1.3 million the first quarter of 2025.
California is known as a liberal protectorate. Democrats hold every statewide office, dominate the Legislature and congressional delegation and outnumber registered Republicans by a staggering 2-1 ratio. Still, Republicans retain pockets of political clout in the Southern California suburbs and vast rural stretches, including the Central Valley farm belt.
In 2024, a tough year for Democrats nationally, the party picked up three GOP-held House seats in California.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.