Two weeks after narrowing the field of candidates to represent them in Congress starting next year, San Joaquin Valley voters are voting again.
On Tuesday, Central Valley voters will cast their ballots in a separate special election to fill out the remainder of former Rep. Kevin McCarthy's term in the House of Representatives. The Bakersfield Republican left Congress at the end of 2023, with one year left in his term, after his own party removed him as House speaker.
The fight to succeed McCarthy has pitted Republicans against Republicans in the 20th Congressional District, which includes Fresno, Kern, Kings and Tulare counties. The favorites include McCarthy's hand-picked successor, Assemblyman Vince Fong; and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, a law-and-order conservative.
If Fong or Bourdreaux win the special election, he will head into November's regular election as an incumbent member of Congress, a significant advantage in the race to represent the San Joaquin Valley district in Congress in 2025 and 2026.
Being the incumbent in the November election would help “enormously,” said Republican consultant Rob Stutzman, who does not work for either candidate. “It's a big boost.”
Stutzman said voters probably wouldn't want to back a different candidate months after sending someone to Washington. And, 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 re-election fights.
There are nine candidates on the special election ballot. Two are Democrats, including Marisa Wood, a high school teacher who is running against McCarthy in 2022. Four are Republicans, including Fong, Boudreaux and Fresno casino owner Kyle Kirkland, who loaned her campaign $485,000, records show federal. Three candidates are presented without party preference.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in Tuesday's special election, the race will move to a runoff on May 21.
Much of the Republican establishment has lined up behind Fong, who began his career as McCarthy's district director before being elected to represent Bakersfield in the state Assembly.
Two super PACs, one funded by McCarthy's political action committee, spent more than $670,000 to boost Fong through digital ads, text messages and mailings, federal documents show. A group called Central Valley Values sent ads about Wood to district Democrats, apparently in an attempt to help her advance to the general election. In a deeply red district, Fong would have an easy path to election in both races if she faced a Democrat.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank and his allies used a similar strategy in the California Senate race, boosting Republican Steve Garvey in an effort to keep Rep. Katie Porter, a fierce liberal competitor, out of the election. November.
The strategy did not work in the Central Valley, where primary election results for the full two-year term show Fong with about 42% of the primary votes, Boudreaux with 24% and Wood with about 21%.
Fong also earned the endorsement of former President Trump, a big 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, reduce taxes, cut burdensome regulations, defend American energy, and protect and defend the Second Amendment, which is under siege.” by the government.” radical left.
Fong said in a statement that the Central Valley is “ready to once again have leaders in DC, like President Trump, who will fight for our interests and values.”
Trump's endorsement of Fong, Stutzman said, “really cuts the legs off any kind of right-wing insurgency.”
Boudreaux has presented himself as an alternative to the Central Valley's establishment Republican politics. He has received endorsements from 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 is “demanding leadership in Washington with real experience to confront our biggest problems: security and our open border,” Boudreaux said after the Associated Press said it would advance to the November vote. Boudreaux advanced despite being “outspended 10 to 1 by swampy DC special interests and super PACs seeking to protect the status quo,” his campaign manager said in a statement.
The election got off to a rocky start, with legal confusion over whether Fong, who had initially filed to run for re-election in the 32nd Assembly District, is eligible to run for Congress. Fong changed his mind, ran for Congress, and was removed from the ballot by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, who said state law prohibits candidates from running for two offices in one election.
Fong filed the lawsuit, arguing that the law cited by Weber has not been enforceable since 2010, when California voters eliminated the state's party nomination system and created a new system in which the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. . A Sacramento County judge sided with Fong in late December and ruled that he could appear on the ballot after all.
Weber's office appealed the decision in late January, asking the Third District Court of Appeals to rule on the issue of Fong's eligibility by April 12, the deadline for Weber to certify the primary election results.
