Two weeks after narrowing the field of candidates to represent them in Congress starting next year, voters in the San Joaquin Valley started voting again.
On Tuesday, Central Valley voters will cast ballots in a separate special election to complete the remainder of former Rep. Kevin McCarthy's term in the House. The Bakersfield Republican left Congress at the end of 2023, with one year remaining in his term, after his party ousted him as Speaker of the House.
The fight to succeed McCarthy pitted Republicans against Republicans in the 20th Congressional District, which includes Fresno, Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties. The front runners include McCarthy's hand-picked successor, Assemblyman Vince Fong; and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreau, law and order governor.
If Fong or Bourdreau wins the special election, he will head to the regular November election as an incumbent member of Congress, a huge advantage in the race to represent the San Joaquin Valley district in Congress in 2025 and 2026.
Republican consultant Rob Stutzman, who does not work for either candidate, said being an incumbent on the November ballot would help “tremendously.” “It's a big boost.”
Voters probably won't want to support a different candidate months after sending someone to Washington, Stutzman said. He said being sworn into Congress after the special election would unlock support from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which spends to support incumbents in their reelection fights.
There are nine candidates on the special election ballot. Two of them are Democrats, including Marissa Wood, the middle school teacher who is running against McCarthy in 2022. And four are Republicans, including Fung, Boudreau and Fresno casino owner Kyle Kirkland, whose campaign loaned $485,000, they show Federal records. Three candidates are competing without any party preference.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes in Tuesday's special election, a runoff will be held on May 21.
Much of the Republican establishment lined up behind Fung, who began his career as McCarthy's district manager before being elected to represent Bakersfield in the state Assembly.
Federal filings show that two super PACs, one of them funded by McCarthy's PAC, spent more than $670,000 promoting Fong through digital ads, text messages and email. One group called “Central Valley Values” sent ads for Wood to area Democrats, in an apparent effort to help her advance to the general election. In a deep red district, Fung will have an easy path to election in both races if he faces a Democratic candidate.
Representative Adam B. used Burbank's Schiff and his allies have a similar strategy in the California Senate race, bolstering Republican Steve Garvey in an attempt to keep Rep. Katie Porter, a fierce liberal challenger, out of the November election.
This strategy did not work in the Central Valley, where primary election results for the full two-year term showed Fung with about 42% of the primary vote, Boudreau with 24%, and Wood about 21%.
Fung also received the endorsement of former President Trump, a major advantage in one of California's most Republican congressional districts. Trump wrote last month on his social network Truth Social that Fong would work in Congress to “grow the economy, lower taxes, reduce burdensome regulations, support American energy, and protect and defend the Second Amendment, which is under siege by the United States.” The extreme left.”
The Central Valley is “ready once again to welcome leaders to D.C., like President Trump, who will fight for our interests and values,” Fong said in a statement.
Stutzman said Trump's endorsement of Fung “effectively cuts off the legs of any kind of insurgency from the right.”
Boudreau portrayed himself as an alternative to establishment Republican politics in the Central Valley. He has been endorsed by state Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) and David Giglio, the self-described “America First” candidate who dropped out of the congressional race last month.
The Central Valley “demands in Washington leadership with real experience confronting our biggest issues: safety and our open borders,” Boudreau said after The Associated Press said he would advance to the November ballot. His campaign manager said in a statement that Boudreau advanced despite being “outspent 10 to 1 by swampy D.C. special interests and super PACs seeking to protect the status quo.”
The election got off to a rocky start, with legal confusion over whether Fong, who initially filed to run for re-election in the 32nd Assembly District, was eligible to run for Congress. Fong changed his mind, filed to run for Congress, and was blocked from the ballot by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, who said state law prohibited candidates from running for two offices in one election.
Fong filed a lawsuit, arguing that the law Weber cited has been no longer applicable since 2010, when California voters abolished the state's party nominating system and created a new system in which the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election regardless of their affiliation. Partisan. . A Sacramento County judge sided with Fong in late December, ruling that he could appear on the ballot after all.
Weber's office appealed the decision in late January and asked the 3rd District Court of Appeal to issue a ruling on the question of Fung's eligibility by April 12, the deadline for Weber to certify the primary election results.
