Can a soap opera veteran unseat a three-term Democrat who knows his way around a general hospital? Politics junkies will have to tune in to California’s 36th Congressional District’s election next year to find out.

Kimberlin Brown, who plays Sheila Carter on CBS’s “Bold and the Beautiful” and who delivered a speech supporting Donald Trump at the 2016 GOP convention, has announced she’s running as a Republican against Rep. Raul Ruiz, a doctor who practiced emergency medicine prior to his election to Congress.

Both the Democratic and Republican congressional campaign committees diagnose the midterm contest as critical, with President Trump having registered a strong showing in 2016 relative to Mr. Ruiz’s showing in the polls, according to Roll Call, which reported the candidacy Wednesday.

“While Ruiz won by 24 points in the district, Clinton vastly underperformed him, winning the district by only 9 points,” Roll Call reported. “President Barack Obama only won the district with 51 percent of the vote in 2012.”

Mr. Ruiz first won the seat in 2012, when he bested incumbent Mary Bono Mack, widow of former singer and GOP congressman Sonny Bono, by nearly 6 percentage points, according to Ballotpedia.

Ms. Brown is in the process of moving into Mr. Ruiz’s district. She currently resides in the district represented by Republican Duncan Hunter, Roll Call reported.

Under California law, the top two vote-getters in an all-party primary — scheduled for June 5, 2018 — face off for final approval from the voters in the general election, scheduled for Nov. 6 next year.

According to the California Secretary of State’s website, March 9, 2018, is the filing deadline for candidates for elected office. Thus far, according to Ballotpedia, only Mr. Ruiz has formally filed his papers.

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