Maxine Waters reelection was projected by NBC Los Angeles on Tuesday 3 November, after voters in California’s 43rd Congressional District returned the Democrat to the United States House of Representatives. The Maxine Waters reelection result showed her with 81.7 percent of the vote against 18.3 percent for Republican Cristian Morales in the NBC Los Angeles count, with 74,143 votes for Waters and 16,553 for Morales at that snapshot. The Associated Press also marked the race as called for Waters, with 74,762 votes recorded for her and 55.96 percent of precincts reporting.
Maxine Waters reelection in California’s 43rd District
Waters represents California’s 43rd District, a seat she has held since she was first elected in 1990 and took office in January 1991. She is the top Democrat on the Financial Services Committee and the most senior Black lawmaker serving in Congress, according to the Almanac of American Politics. At 88, she remains one of the longest serving members of the House. The 3 November election was the first general election since California’s congressional district maps were redrawn, a step voters approved last year with Proposition 50.
California has 52 seats in the United States House of Representatives, and the redrawn maps complicated reelection bids for some Republican incumbents in the state, according to NBC Los Angeles. Waters faced Morales, a Republican, in the general election after winning her primary in June 2026. The Almanac of American Politics reported that she defeated a younger Democratic challenger in that primary. Her margin in the general election left little doubt about the outcome in the district, even as counting continued in other parts of the state.
What the Maxine Waters reelection result shows
The Maxine Waters reelection result holds the seat for Democrats in a district that has returned her for more than three decades. Her seniority on the Financial Services Committee gives her a central place in House debates on banking, housing and financial regulation, subjects that fall under that committee. Voters in the district have returned her through changes in district boundaries, in party control of the House and in the national political mood, and the 2026 result follows that pattern.
The result also comes at a time when the balance of the House remained a subject of close attention on election night, with many races still uncalled as western states continued counting. A single district result does not settle that balance, and the final House tally will depend on counts in districts across the country. For Waters, the immediate effect is a further term in a seat she has held since the start of 1991, with committee work that will resume when the new Congress convenes.
Counting and certification
Election night figures are projections and partial counts, rather than certified results. The Associated Press call for Waters rested on reported votes and on the margin in the district, and the state canvass will produce the certified tally in the weeks that follow. Morales, as the Republican candidate in the district, trailed by a wide margin in both the Associated Press and NBC Los Angeles counts available on election night. The Maxine Waters reelection win was reported as a projected win, with the formal result to follow certification.
The Maxine Waters reelection campaign took place in a district shaped by the redrawn maps approved by voters with Proposition 50. That redraw changed the lines for California’s 52 House seats and altered the contest in several districts, even though Waters held her seat by a wide margin. The Maxine Waters reelection result therefore sits inside a larger California story, in which map changes and a high turnout midterm combined to test incumbents across the state. In the 43rd District, the test produced a clear outcome, with Waters winning more than four votes in five in the early count reported by NBC Los Angeles.
Waters took office in January 1991 after her election in November 1990. The Maxine Waters reelection term will begin with the new Congress, and her work on the Financial Services Committee will continue in the role she holds as the committee’s top Democrat.