A look at House candidates in Orange County, California

The Democratic drive to take control of the U.S. House in November might rise or fall on the California coast. As part of its strategy, the party is targeting four Republican-held seats in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, which Hillary Clinton carried in the 2016 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the county, a one-time Republican stronghold, has gradually grown more diverse and Democratic in its politics. Here's a look at candidates in the four districts in play:

39TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2012, file photo, California Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point, is seen during a Capitol news conference in Sacramento, Calif. Harkey, a Republican candidate for a U.S. House seat in the 49th Congressional District, has been endorsed by Trump. For decades, Orange County, California, was known as a Republican stronghold, but it has gradually grown more diverse and Democratic in its politics. (AP PhotoRich Pedroncelli, File)

It includes parts of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

— Young Kim, Republican. The 55-year-old South Korean immigrant and former state lawmaker worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce for years and is well-known in the district, where registration is closely divided. She's running as a supporter of President Donald Trump with an independent streak. She says she opposes increased trade tariffs imposed by the administration. Kim was born in South Korea and grew up in Guam before coming to the U.S.

— Gil Cisneros, Democrat. The 47-year-old Navy veteran and former Frito-Lay manager is a first-time candidate arguing for change in gridlocked Washington. The son of a public school cafeteria worker and a Vietnam veteran, Cisneros and his wife won a $266 million lottery jackpot and run a charitable foundation. He says he wants to continue in public service and that voters are often surprised that someone with his wealth would want to get involved in the nasty partisan battles on Capitol Hill.

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2018, file photo, Mike Levin, a Democratic candidate in the 49th Congressional District, attends the Take It Back California event where former President Barack Obama campaigns in support of California congressional candidates in Anaheim, Calif. Southern California's Orange County was known as a Republican stronghold for decades. Democrats this year hope to capture as many as four Republican-held U.S. House districts in the county. (AP PhotoRingo H.W. Chiu, File)

45TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Entirely in Orange County.

— Rep. Mimi Walters, Republican. She was re-elected two years ago by a 17-point margin in a district where Republicans have a shrinking registration edge. Walters, 56, has been promoting the region's economic growth under Trump's stewardship. The former investment banker and state lawmaker supported the president on the federal tax overhaul and Republicans' attempts to repeal former President Barack Obama's health care law.

FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2012, file photo, state Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Lake Forest, speaks at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Rep. Walters is a candidate running for a U.S. House seat against Democrat Katie Porter in the 45th Congressional District. For decades, Orange County, California, was known as a Republican stronghold but times have changed. Now, Hispanics and Asians together are the majority and more voters are registering as Democrats and independents. (AP PhotoRich Pedroncelli, File)

— Katie Porter, Democrat. The 44-year-old law professor was appointed by former state Attorney General Kamala Harris to oversee California's share of a $25 billion national mortgage settlement following the housing crisis. She's a protege of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who's a favorite of the party's liberal wing. Porter wants to overturn Trump's tax plan and she supports universal health care.

48TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Entirely in Orange County.

FILE - In this June 5, 2018, file photo, Harley Rouda, a Democratic candidate for Congress in the 48th District in Orange County, poses during interviews in Newport Beach, Calif. The Republican-turned-Democrat says he’s not a politician but is tired of Washington representatives failing to meet the needs of the people they serve. For decades, Orange County, California, was known as a Republican stronghold, but it has gradually grown more diverse and Democratic in its politics. (AP PhotoKrysta Fauria, File)

— Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Republican. The congressman was easily re-elected two years ago, but Democrats see an opportunity to oust a long-serving member whose name has come up in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. He has denied any wrongdoing. Rohrabacher, 71, is a one-time cold warrior who became Russia's leading defender on Capitol Hill. The guitar-strumming congressman who loves to surf is a former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan and is known for his longtime support for legalized marijuana and skepticism about climate change.

— Harley Rouda, Democrat. The businessman, real estate developer and lawyer is making his first run for the House. The Republican-turned-Democrat says he's not a politician but is tired of Washington representatives failing to meet the needs of the people they serve. His ads depict him as a Democrat in the mold of Obama. "We need new leadership that trusts science, acts on climate change, demands that polluters clean up their mess," Rouda, 56, says on his website.

49TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 1, 2018, file photo, Young Kim, speaks at a gas tax rally in Fullerton, Calif. In the 39th Congressional District, Kim, a Korean immigrant Republican is running for a U.S. House seat against Gil Cisneros, a Hispanic Democrat. Kim is trying to become the first Korean-American woman elected to Congress. (AP PhotoChris Carlson, File)

It includes parts of San Diego and Orange counties.

— Diane Harkey, Republican. Nine-term Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is stepping aside after surviving his 2016 race by 1,600 votes, a confirmation that the once solidly Republican district has grown more Democratic. Harkey, a former state lawmaker who sits on a state tax board and earlier worked in corporate finance and banking, has been endorsed by Trump. The president's campaign recently tweeted that she would be a "great supporter" of Trump's agenda. Harkey, 67, has called her Democratic rival out of step with the district and warned of higher taxes, runaway regulations and government-run health care with Democrats in charge.

— Mike Levin, Democrat. The environmental attorney has sparred with Harkey over Trump's agenda, global warming and immigration. "Sorry, President Trump, but climate change is real," he says in an online video. Levin, who turns 40 on Saturday, has called Harkey a "rubber stamp" for the White House. On his website, he says he will not be a rigid partisan in Washington but wants to build coalitions to improve the environment and establish universal health care.

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2018, file photo, Katie Porter, a Democratic candidate seeking election to the U.S. House to represent the 45th Congressional District of California poses in Laguna Beach, Calif. Porter is running against Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. Democrats this year hope to capture as many as four Republican-held U.S. House seats in the county. (AP PhotoChris Carlson, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2018, file photo, Democratic congressional candidate, Gil Cisneros, attends the Take It Back California event where former President Barack Obama campaigns in support of California congressional candidates in Anaheim, Calif. Cisneros, a Hispanic Democrat, is running against Young Kim, a Republican who is a Korean immigrant. Democrats this year hope to capture as many as four Republican-held U.S. House seats in the county. (AP PhotoRingo H.W. Chiu, File)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A big, new package of U.S. military aid will help Ukraine avoid defeat in its war with Russia. Winning will still be a long slog.

The arms and ammunition in the $61 billion military aid package should enable Ukraine to slow the Russian army's bloody advances and block its strikes on troops and civilians. And it will buy Ukraine time — for long-term planning about how to take back the fifth of the country now under Russian control.

“Ultimately it offers Ukraine the prospect of staying in the war this year,” said Michael Clarke, visiting professor in war studies at King’s College London. “Sometimes in warfare you’ve just got to stay in it. You’ve just got to avoid being rolled over.”

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the package on Saturday after months of delays by some Republicans wary of U.S. involvement overseas. It was passed by the Senate on Tuesday, and President Joe Biden said he would sign it Wednesday.

The difference could be felt within days on the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russia’s much larger army has been slowly taking territory against massively outgunned Ukrainian forces.

The aid approval means Ukraine may be able to release artillery ammunition from dwindling stocks that it has been rationing. More equipment will come soon from American stocks in Poland and Germany, and later from the U.S.

The first shipments are expected to arrive by the beginning of next week, said Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.

But opposition lawmaker Vadym Ivchenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee, said logistical challenges and bureaucracy could delay shipments to Ukraine by two to three months, and it would be even longer before they reach the front line.

While details of the shipments are classified, Ukraine’s most urgent needs are artillery shells to stop Russian troops from advancing, and anti-aircraft missiles to protect people and infrastructure from missiles, drones and bombs.

What’s coming first is not always what front-line commanders need most, said Arakhamia, the Ukrainian lawmaker. He said that even a military giant like the U.S. does not have stockpiles of everything.

“The logic behind this first package was, you (the U.S.) finds our top priorities and then you see what you have in the warehouses,” Arakhamia said. “And sometimes they do not match.”

Hope for future breakthroughs for Ukraine still hangs on more timely deliveries of Western aid, lawmakers acknowledge.

Many experts believe that both Ukraine and Russia are exhausted by two years of war and won’t be able to mount a major offensive — one capable of making big strategic gains — until next year.

Still, Russia is pushing forward at several points along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front, using tanks, wave after wave of infantry troops and satellite-guided gliding bombs to pummel Ukrainian forces. Russia is also hitting power plants and pounding Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is only about 30 kilometers (some 20 miles) from the Russian border.

Ivchenko said the goal for Ukraine’s forces now is to “hold the line” until the bulk of new supplies arrive by mid-summer. Then, they can focus on trying to recapture territory recently lost in the Donetsk region.

“And probably ... at the end of summer we’ll see some movement, offensive movement of the Ukrainian armed forces,” he said.

Some military experts doubt Ukraine has the resources to mount even small offensives very soon.

The U.S. funding “can probably only help stabilize the Ukrainian position for this year and begin preparations for operations in 2025,” said Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank.

In the best-case scenario for Ukraine, the American aid will give commanders time to reorganize and train its army — applying lessons learned from its failed summer 2023 offensive. It may also galvanize Ukraine’s allies in Europe to increase aid.

“So this just wasn’t about Ukraine and the United States, this really affected our entire 51-country coalition,” said U.S. Congressman Bill Keating, a Democrat who visited Kyiv on Monday as part of a four-member congressional delegation.

Zelenskyy insists Ukraine's war aim is to recapture all its territory from Russia — including Crimea, seized illegally in 2014. Even if the war ultimately ends through negotiation, as many experts believe, Ukraine wants to do that from as strong a position as possible.

Whatever happens on the battlefield, Ukraine still faces variables beyond its control.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who seeks to retake the White House in the November election, has said he would end the war within days of taking office. And the 27-nation Europe Union includes leaders like Hungarian President Viktor Orbán and Slovakian Prime Minister Richard Fico, who have opposed arming Ukraine.

Ukraine’s allies have held back from supplying some arms out of concern about escalation or depleting their own stocks. Ukraine says that to win the war it needs longer-range missiles it could use for potentially game-changing operations such as cutting off occupied Crimea, where's Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.

It wants Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMs, from the U.S. and Taurus cruise missiles from Germany. Both governments have resisted calls to send them because they are capable of striking targets deep within Russian territory.

The new bill authorizes the president to send Ukraine ATACMS “as soon as practicable.” It's unclear what that will mean in practice.

Sometimes, promised weapons have arrived late, or not at all. Zelenskyy recently pointed out that Ukraine is still waiting for the F-16 fighter jets it was promised a year ago.

Meanwhile, Russia is using its advantage in troops and weapons to push back Ukrainian forces, perhaps seeking to make maximum gains before Ukraine's new supplies arrive.

For weeks it has pummeled the small eastern city of Chasiv Yar, at the cost of 900 soldiers killed and wounded a day, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

Capturing the strategically important hill town would allow them to move toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, key cities Ukraine controls in the eastern region of Donetsk. It would be a significant win for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Western officials say is bent on toppling Ukraine’s pro-Western government.

Russian pressure was aimed not just at gaining territory, but on undermining Zelenskyy and bolstering critics who say his war plan is failing, said Clarke of King's College London.

The U.S. aid package decreases the likelihood of a political crisis in Ukraine, and U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson deserves credit for pushing it through Congress, he said.

"He held history in his hands,” Clarke said.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

From left, U.S. representatives Nathaniel Moran, R-Tx, Tom Kean Jr, R-NJ, Bill Keating, D-Mass, and Madeleine Deane, D-Pa, talk to journalists during a joint news conference outside Saint Michael cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A volunteer makes a camouflage net at a facility producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, talks during an interview with Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A woman rallies to raise awareness on the fate of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Ribbons with the colors of the European Union and Ukraine are attached to a tree next to memorial wall of Ukrainian soldiers killed during the war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

The body of a woman killed by Russian bombardment in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Soldiers carry the coffins of two Ukrainian army sergeants during their funeral in Lviv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)