Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, considered the outsider candidate in the Central Valley congressional race to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, said Monday he is dropping out of the race and endorsing his opponent.
Boudreaux endorsed Rep. Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield), who defeated Boudreaux in a special election in May to fill McCarthy's term and was sworn into Congress last month.
The two men will face off again on Nov. 5 for a full two-year term in Congress. The 20th Congressional District, California's most conservative, spans the agricultural San Joaquin Valley between Bakersfield and Fresno.
“Even though we were on opposite sides in this campaign, at the end of the day we are Republicans,” Boudreaux told supporters in a Facebook video. “We are family men and fighters committed to protecting individual liberty, lowering the cost of living, and maintaining safe communities for our neighbors.”
Boudreaux, who has been Tulare County sheriff for more than a decade, said he has no plans to leave politics. On Monday, he announced the launch of Golden State Justice, an organization he said will “help direct support for common-sense candidates and leaders focused on achieving a safer, stronger and more vibrant Central Valley and California.”
McCarthy, Fong's former boss, resigned from Congress last year after being ousted as House speaker. He was a major influence in the race to replace him, bringing his connections and significant fundraising ability to help boost Fong.
Fong raised $1.7 million and also received nearly $1 million in support from a McCarthy-linked political action committee. He also secured an endorsement from former President Trump, which many believe was orchestrated by McCarthy. The endorsement was a coup for Fong, who has largely avoided the culture wars that dominate GOP factions and sought to win over right-wing Republicans skeptical of the political establishment.
The Bakersfield political establishment that helped elect Fong, Boudreaux told supporters in May, is “such a powerful machine that it’s very challenging, to say the least.”
The District 20 race was marred by months of legal confusion over whether Fong was eligible to run because he had already filed to run for reelection to the state Assembly. Fong said Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, blocked him from withdrawing from that race, arguing that the deadline to do so had already passed. He also said state election law prohibited candidates from running for two offices at the same time.
Fong's campaign sued Weber and won in Sacramento County court and again in the 3rd District Court of Appeals.
