Vince Fong moves on in California primary to replace Kevin McCarthy. Who else is close?

Assemblyman Vince Fong, the presumed frontrunner to replace retired Bakersfield Rep. Kevin McCarthy in California’s most Republican-filled congressional district, will vie in the Nov. 5 general election — presuming California’s secretary of state doesn’t block him.

Fong, R-Bakersfield, had 38.3% of the votes that had been counted as of 6:08 p.m. Monday. The Associated Press estimated that 59% of votes in California’s 20th Congressional District had been counted.

Behind him, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, a Republican, and teacher Marisa Wood, a Democrat, were close to advancing. Boudreaux had 25.4% and Wood had 22%.

Analysts had expected Fong, who secured the endorsements of McCarthy and former President Donald Trump, to get one of the two spots in the general election. But Fong faces a legal challenge by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber that could erase his congressional candidacy.

Fong would have an easier time against a Democrat in November in this deep-red congressional district. Wood challenged and fell to McCarthy in 2022.

Boudreaux swung key local endorsements in the race to replace McCarthy, who retired at the end of 2023, following his ousting as Speaker of the House.

California’s 20th Congressional District takes bits of Bakersfield and Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley and grabs parts of Kern, Kings, Tulare and Fresno counties. There were nearly a dozen candidates on the March 5 ballot, though many stopped campaigning to endorse other candidates.

The top two vote-getters advance to the Nov. 5 general election. It will take weeks before all ballots are counted. The California Secretary of State will certify primary results on April 12.

What is the legal challenge to Fong’s candidacy?

Before April 12, Weber hopes that a state appeals court will terminate Fong’s ability to run for Congress. Fong is on the ballot for both the 20th Congressional and 32nd Assembly District, which he currently represents, due to a complicated game of succession in December.

McCarthy announced his retirement on Dec. 6, two days before the state’s electoral filing deadline. Since the incumbent was not running, the filing deadline for California’s 20th was extended until Dec. 13. Fong originally declined to run to succeed his former boss before the Dec. 8 deadline to qualify for his Assembly race; he did.

State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, who will be termed out of the Legislature and appeared the likely McCarthy successor, declined to run a few days later — Fong changed his mind, announced his bid for Congress and gathered McCarthy’s endorsement. Weber said that, under elections code, Fong could not withdraw from the race and could not be on the ballot for competing offices.

Weber said she would bar him from running in the 20th. But a Sacramento Superior Court judge granted Fong’s request to be on the ballot for the Assembly and Congress in December. Up against a deadline, Weber included Fong’s name on the certified list of candidates for both. But she said she would appeal the decision.

At the end of January, Weber asked an appeals court to erase Judge Shelleyanne W. L. Chang’s ruling and disqualify Fong as a congressional candidate by April 12. If the court grants her request, she would bar him from the Nov. 5 ballot.

Fong was uncontested in the 32nd Assembly District’s primary. There are write-in candidates.

Who are Vince Fong, Mike Boudreaux and Marisa Wood?

Fong, 44, served as McCarthy’s district director for almost a decade before his election to the Assembly. Born in Bakersfield, Fong started his political career as an aide to former Republican Rep. Bill Thomas, McCarthy’s predecessor.

Boudreaux, 56, has been Tulare County Sheriff for over a decade. Currently president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, Boudreaux worked in Tulare County law enforcement for almost his whole life, starting there as a cadet at 19. He lives in Springville.

Wood, 63, was born in Walnut Creek and has taught English at Fairfax Junior High School in Bakersfield for more than two decades.

There is also a special election to finish the remainder of McCarthy’s term, which ends in January 2025. The primary is March 19; if a candidate secures the majority of votes then, they win outright. If not, the top two vote-getters advance to a May 21 runoff. Whoever wins will be sworn in nearly immediately.

Fong, Boudreaux and Wood are among the candidates running in the special election. Weber’s challenge to Fong only applies to the full-term election.