Changing Orange County, California, gives Democrats hope

FULLERTON, Calif. (AP) – For decades, Orange County, California, was known as a Republican stronghold, but times have changed.

Korean barbecue shops and Mexican bakeries along busy thoroughfares speak to a more diverse population and shifting politics.

Democrats this year hope to capture as many as four Republican-held U.S. House districts in the county, after Hillary Clinton carried them in the 2016 presidential election.

Losing any one of them would be a blow for Republicans, who consider the county conservative holy ground.

A sign of the change is in the 39th District, where long-serving Republican Rep. Ed Royce is retiring.

Royce is white. But the contest to succeed him matches Gil Cisneros, a Hispanic Democrat, against Young Kim, a Republican who is a Korean immigrant.