Kevin McCarthy to leave Congress Dec. 31. Who’s running in California special election?
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, tendered his resignation from Congress on Tuesday, indicating he’d officially leave on December 31.
Once McCarthy’s resignation becomes official, California Gov. Gavin Newsom will be required to call for a special election within two weeks to fill the remainder of his term that ends January 2025.
The primary for the special election would likely be in March, potentially on the same ballot as the primary for the term starting in January 2025. If no candidate gets a majority of the votes, then a runoff would take place in May.
A number of candidates who are running for their own term in California’s 20th Congressional District could also run in the special election. California’s 20th, which holds parts of Kern, Tulare, Kings and Fresno counties, will almost definitely go to a Republican, analysts say.
There are several GOP contenders who are running to succeed McCarthy and could decide to run in the special election as well, including Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, business owner David Giglio, former fighter pilot Matt Stoll, California City Mayor Kelly Kulikoff and Fresno businessman Kyle Kirkland. Democrats Marisa Wood, a Bakersfield school teacher, and Andy Morales, who works in private security, filed to run for the term starting in January 2025 as well.
California’s secretary of state said Friday that Assemblyman Vince Fong could not run for a full two-year term in Congress in 2024 because he had already qualified for re-election in his Assembly district. Fong is going to file a lawsuit challenging the decision this week, his campaign said Wednesday.
The Bee asked the secretary of state if Fong, R-Bakersfield, would be allowed to run in the special election — the term ends after the next Assembly session begins.
McCarthy, who turns 59 in January, said he’d to retire from Congress in December after being ousted as House speaker this fall. In October, eight Republicans and all Democrats voted to remove the nine-month speaker after GOP hardliners were angered by his bipartisan deal to stave off a government shutdown.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to represent the great people and communities of Kern, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Tulare, Fresno, and Kings counties over the past 17 years,” McCarthy wrote in his resignation letter, ”and especially my hometown of Bakersfield and the Central Valley of the great state of California.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2023 at 4:06 PM.
