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

A Republican assemblyman is leading in the primary race to fill retired Bakersfield Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s shoes in California’s most Republican-filled congressional district.

Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, had 37.3% of the votes that had been counted as of 10:05 p.m. on Tuesday, outpacing his competitors. The Associated Press estimated that 42% of votes in California’s 20th Congressional District had been counted.

Behind him, teacher Marisa Wood, a Democrat, and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, a Republican, were neck and neck. Wood had 24% and Boudreaux had 23%.

It’s still too early to tell which two candidates will advance to the Nov. 5 general election as of Tuesday night.

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 the California Secretary of State 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 is an oddly-shaped district that 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.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. Early results started coming in after that, but it will take weeks before all ballots are counted. And it might take that long to determine who will advance. The California Secretary of State will certify primary results by April 12.

What is the legal challenge to Fong’s candidacy?

Before April 12, Secretary of State Shirley 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.

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 County 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.

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

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.

There is also a special election to finish the remainder of McCarthy’s term, which ends in Jan. 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.

This is a developing story; check back with sacbee.com for updates.