California Assemblyman Vince Fong has won the special election to carry out the rest of former Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s term after the former speaker stepped down from office at the end of last year.
Fong defeated Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux in the head-to-head contest, with the state lawmaker garnering 60.5% of the vote with 83% of the ballots counted. The Associated Press called the race at 11:18 p.m. Eastern time.
The victory allows Fong to represent California’s 20th Congressional District for the remainder of this Congress, and it gives him an advantage in the general election in November for a full term.
Fong’s win comes as a victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) predecessor, McCarthy, who was ousted last October and retired from Congress three months later. Fong, once a staffer under McCarthy, ran as a candidate with similar values as his onetime boss, upholding the Republican establishment.
McCarthy played a substantial role in Fong’s campaign by appearing at fundraising events and helping to secure a coveted endorsement from former President Donald Trump. A political action committee tied to the former speaker also poured $450,000 into a pro-Fong super PAC to help boost his candidacy and target Boudreaux in the March primaries.
His win will bring the Republican majority to 218-213, giving the party more breathing room by increasing its current one-vote majority to two. That is sure to give Johnson a sense of relief as he navigates a historically thin majority paired with a group of hard-line Republicans who are unafraid to buck GOP leadership to get what they want.
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The replacement of McCarthy will chip away at the House’s efforts to fill a slew of other vacancies announced over the last few months. Those include the seats vacated by Republican Reps. Bill Johnson, Mike Gallagher, and Ken Buck, all of whom resigned from office before their terms expired. There is also the seat vacated by Democratic Rep. Donald Payne, who died late last month.
Those races are all considered not to be competitive and will provide Republicans with a little boost to their majority once they are all filled. Until then, Johnson faces pushback from some hard-line members who have repeatedly threatened his leadership, including a failed ouster attempt by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) earlier this month.
