The race to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy kicks off Tuesday: Meet the candidates vying to join the chaos of Congress and expand the slim GOP majority
- Leading Republican candidates include Vince Fong, who has received endorsements from McCarthy and Trump, and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux
- The March 5 primary saw both Fong and Bordeaux advance to the November general election, so the district will be led by a Republican next Congress
On Tuesday, California’s 20th District will choose who will replace Kevin McCarthy in a race that will impact the House GOP’s slim majority.
Nine candidates are vying to replace Bakersfield’s former chairman. All candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party.
If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, he wins the special election. If no one crosses this threshold, the top two vote-getters will advance to the second round on May 22.
There are four Republicans on the ballot, led by Vince Fong, who has received support from both McCarthy and Donald Trump, and Mike Boudreaux, sheriff of Tulare County and another front-runner.
McCarthy resigned from Congress in December, two months after being removed from the presidency
The Democrats have backed Marisa Wood, who was also their candidate against McCarthy in 2022.
Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s elections, the district is guaranteed to be represented by a Republican next Congress. During the March 5 primary, both Fong and Bordeaux advanced to the general election in November.
Republicans currently have the smallest majority in the House of Representatives: they can only afford to lose two votes and pass party-line legislation.
Colorado GOP Rep. Ken Buck announced he would leave Congress next Friday, days after the race in California.
McCarthy resigned from Congress in December, two months after being removed from the presidency. He has represented the district since 2007. Since 2009, he has served in the leadership role, first as deputy chief, then as majority leader, and then as leader and speaker of the Republican Party.
There are four Republicans on the ballot, led by Vince Fong, who has scored support from both McCarthy and Donald Trump
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux is another frontrunner
The other Republicans on the ballot are Kyle Kirkland and Anna Cohen. The other Democrat is Harmesh Kumar. The remaining three candidates are Ben Dewell, David Fluhart and James Cardoza, all running as “no party preference.”
Fong, also from Bakersfield, is a member of the California state Assembly and a former aide to McCarthy. But even with a large war chest and the support of a McCarthy-linked super PAC, he couldn’t stop Boudreaux from advancing to the March 5 general election.
Boudreaux won his first election for sheriff-coroner in 2014 with nearly 73% of the vote and ran unopposed in 2022 and 2018.
A situation could arise where one of the two men wins the seat for the rest of the year and another takes over in January.
The November primaries had eleven candidates on the ballot, seven of whom were Republicans.
The Central Valley district is a reliably Republican area — Trump won it by 25 points over Joe Biden in 2020. The same year, McCarthy won reelection over Democrat Kim Mangone by 24 percentage points.
The March 19 special election is expected to have a much lower turnout than the March 5 primary without a presidential ticket. In the previous election, Fong came first with about 41% of the vote, and Boudreaux came second with 25%.