On Wednesday afternoon, the Associated Press reported that Democrat Derek Tran flipped a California House seat held by GOP Rep. Michelle Steel.

Why does this matter to New Jersey voters? Well, with another California Democrat leading in a Republican-held district that has yet to be called, Republicans are looking at a House majority in January that could end up being a whopping total of two votes.

Coincidentally, over here on the best coast, two is the number of New Jersey House Democrats who have recently decided to seek their party’s nomination for governor next year.

In such a closely divided House, will the gubernatorial ambitions of Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill affect key legislation because they’re up here campaigning instead of down in D.C. voting?

Both campaigns said they can indeed seek the governorship and tend to their House duties at the same time.

Sherrill campaign spokesman Sean Higgins noted the Center for Effective Lawmaking ranked her as the most effective House member from New Jersey during the last House session “because of her commitment to delivering for the people she serves.” Gottheimer was ranked No. 4 for New Jersey’s 12-member House delegation.

“Mikie will stay in close coordination with House Democratic leadership on the vote schedule and will always fight to protect the interests of New Jersey families,” Higgins said.

As for Gottheimer, Zach Florman, his communications director, said, “As ever, the Congressman will be at every critical vote and is already working closely with leadership to ensure that.”

Both Sherrill and Gottheimer have missed at least one vote since they launched their gubernatorial bids. On the evening of Nov. 18 — that’s the day Sherrill announced her campaign for governor — the House voted in favor of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, which is intended to bridge gaps in the services provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Sherrill and Gottheimer were the only two members of New Jersey’s House delegation who did not vote on it. Three days later, Gottheimer was the only New Jersey House member to miss two votes, including one on a bill that would give the Trump administration more power to punish nonprofits it doesn’t like (Sherrill voted no). Two of those bills passed with an overwhelming majority and the nonprofit bill passed with 35 votes, so their presence in D.C. for those votes would not have changed anything.

I asked Steve Fulop about this. He’s the mayor of Jersey City and one of the six Democrats hoping to succeed a term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy (the others are Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, teachers union chief Sean Spiller, and former state Sen. Steve Sweeney).

Of all of Sherrill’s and Gottheimer’s primary opponents, Fulop has been the most critical of them, chiding them for seeking reelection to the House this month while also readying their campaigns for governor. He has lobbed enough bombs in their direction on social media that a Sherrill supporter said Fulop is “thirsting for engagement.”

Fulop told me he thinks Sherrill’s and Gottheimer’s campaigns put Democrats at risk of letting President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda eke through the House.

“In a time of Trump where the House of Representatives will be the front line of defense every resident in NJ should be offended that they were lied to during the congressional campaign by Mikie and Josh. It’s unheard of to tell people you want a job and then to bail on it before even being sworn in and it speaks to their own ego about having a title above the goal of service,” Fulop said in an email.

Spiller also cited Trump when asked to comment.

“As Democrats we all need to be fully focused on defending against a Trump agenda. As an educator, and leader in New Jersey, I have the experience and am prepared to stand up to his agenda and for New Jersey values,” he said in a statement from his campaign.

To be fair, Gottheimer and Sherrill have great attendance records. GovTrack says both miss few votes: Gottheimer was absent for 1.3% of votes in his first term, and since then that percentage hasn’t risen above 1%, while Sherrill missed 0.6% of votes in her first term and 3% in her second (numbers for their current terms are not available).

House members missing votes because they’re off campaigning for another job is a tale as old as time. Earlier this year, Rep. Andy Kim was criticized by then-opponent first lady Tammy Murphy for missing a vote on a bill to ban TikTok. But at that time, in March, the GOP had a six-vote majority. If it ends up being just two starting in January, Democrats will need every body they have in D.C. What happens if Sherrill has a big-dollar fundraiser in Montclair or Gottheimer has a meet-and-greet with voters in Asbury Park and the House decides at the last minute to vote on a major bill? What gets the priority, the job they have now or they job they want in January 2026? We’ll find out very soon.