(Los Angeles, California) –- The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region (ANCA-Western Region) congratulates each of its endorsed midterm election candidates who achieved decisive victories this week. After an arduous endorsement process, each of these candidates pledged to continue working closely with the ANCA-WR on policy initiatives of importance to the Armenian-American community. While many states across the Western United States are still in the process of conducting the ballot count, several candidates have already won by considerable margins, with the majority of ballots counted in their respective races.

ANCA-Western Region’s endorsed federal candidates with outright victories thus far include U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (CA), U.S. Representatives Jared Huffman (CA-2), Tom McClintock (CA-5), John Garamendi (CA-8), Nancy Pelosi (CA-11), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Eric Swalwell (CA-14), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Judy Chu (CA-28), Adam Schiff (CA-30), Grace Napolitano (CA-31), Brad Sherman (CA-32), Ted Lieu (CA-36), and Nanette Barragan (CA-44), Joe Neguse (CO-2), Jason Crow (CO-6). Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), and Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), John Curtis (UT-3), and Adam Smith (WA-9).

At the state level, decisive victories were registered by numerous ANCA-Western Region endorsed candidates, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, California State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, and California State Treasurer Fiona Ma.

In the California State Legislature, victories were also recorded by ANCA-Western Region endorsed candidates including Senator Maria Elena Durazo (SD-26), Assemblymember Phil Ting (AD-19), Assemblymember Vince Fong (AD-32), Assemblymember Luz Rivas (AD-43), and Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer (AD-57).

Several states across the Western Region are still in the process of counting ballots, with some districts having only counted approximately 30% of ballots received. The ANCA-Western Region will continue to monitor the races closely to ensure that communities across the region are informed about new developments.

Many voters rightfully noticed that the ANCA-Western Region made fewer endorsements ahead of the Midterm General Elections. In light of Azerbaijan’s most recent invasion of Armenia’s sovereign territories on September 13, 2022, its ongoing occupation since May 12, 2021, and the ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Azerbaijan against the Armenian population of Armenia and Artsakh, the ANCA-Western Region began an intensive advocacy effort, making numerous policy requests to policymakers in Armenia’s time of greatest need. While some policymakers rose to the occasion, others failed to meet the basic requests of their Armenian constituents. For this reason, ANCA-Western Region made more stringent assessments in consideration of candidate endorsements, and called on those who lost the organization’s endorsement to earn the Armenian-American community’s vote through legislative action and by demonstrating their vocal support for the community’s demands.

“On behalf of the ANCA-Western Region, we applaud the decisive victories of our friends in Congress as well as at the state and local level who have worked tirelessly to address the concerns of their constituents by supporting Armenia and Artsakh in their time of greatest need,” said Nora Hovsepian, Chair of the ANCA-WR Board. “Many rose to the occasion, proving their steadfast commitment to ensuring that Azerbaijan’s crimes do not go unpunished, and calling on their colleagues to join them in their vehement condemnation of its deliberate and calculated attempt to engage in ethnic cleansing against the Armenians of Artsakh, and its blatant violations of international law against the territorial integrity of Armenia. Through our HyeVotes initiative of voter education and getting out the vote, we were able to successfully mobilize our communities in the Western Region to make our collective voice heard as we helped secure victories for many of our friends in public office. Moving forward, we will continue to serve the needs of our community to ensure that elected officials remain informed and proactive on issues that concern us as Armenian-Americans.”

The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region is the largest and most influential nonpartisan Armenian-American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian-American community on a broad range of issues in pursuit of the Armenian Cause.