California Republicans Creating ‘Mob’ of Candidates in Race for McCarthy’s CA-20 District

California Republicans have a serious problem. It seems they are more concerned with fighting other Republicans than actually putting up a fight against Democrats. The super-minority CAGOP already has a tiny piece of the pie in California, and it seems like they are content fighting amongst themselves for that piece instead of winning new districts.

In my previous op-ed, I said of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s retirement from CA-20, “the absolute worst-case scenario is that a mob of great conservative candidates swarm into McCarthy’s district and tear each other down.” I wrote that when the CA-22 field was 3 newcomers deep (including America-First David Giglio) and Assemblyman Vince Fong had just announced. Now Tulare Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, Navy veteran Matt Stoll, and Fresno businessman Kyle Kirkland have all pulled papers to run.

I am now calling the CA-20 race a “mob” and it will hurt the Central Valley. Each of these great candidates could have put up a tough fight for a Democrat’s seat, but they are going to fight each other for this tiny piece of the pie instead. 

Assemblyman Fong chose to throw his Assembly district into confusion with legal questions. He  originally filed to run again in his Assembly district just before the Friday deadline, but changed his mind by Monday. Now that we are past the filing deadline, Fong’s name will stay on the ballot for Assembly, but a candidate cannot run for two offices on the same ballot. The Valley is still waiting for a response from California secretary of state and Kern County’s officials on the issue.

This last minute confusion shows that the bid for CA-20 was not planned or thought out to serve the voters, it is an exercise in ego backed by Kevin McCarthy’s endorsement.

I would love it if an individual Republican’s ambition drove them to charge head-first against a Democrat incumbent. But it seems in the Valley “ambition” only drives you to go after the districts Republicans already comfortably hold.   

Boudreaux, Stoll, and Kirkland have only pulled papers to get the required signatures. I haven’t seen any official announcements, but they are strong conservative candidates. I urge them to not enter this situation and support the Valley by going after Democrat seats and keeping the attention on Republican challengers. Republicans need to stop fighting over the “sure-thing,” Republican strong-hold districts. 

Sheriff Mike Boudreaux can support the Tulare county by:

• Taking leadership of Assembly District 32 now that Fong left it in confusion. Someone needs to right the ship.
• Supporting and advocating for Alexandra Macedo in Assembly District 33. While 33 has been very reliably red, it has benefited from Devon Mathis’ star power from a decade in Sacramento. Without an incumbent, I don’t think that district is as reliable as CAGOP believes. 
• Supporting and advocating for David Shepard in Senate District 16. That is the definition of a purple district. 2022’s Democrat win (68,457 votes – 68,437 votes) was insane. CAGOP needs to prioritize and give that district the attention it needs to push over the edge. Not get sucked into a side-show in McCarthy’s district.  

Navy veteran Matt Stoll lives in Tulare County and can do all of the above, but his previous election was for a Fresno County seat so I’ll include him with Fresno businessman Kyle Kirkland. They can support Fresno County by:

• Supporting and advocating for Mark Pazin in Assembly District 27 who lost in 2022 (45,721 votes – 43,335 votes). 
• Running against Joaquin Arambula in Democrat strong-hold Assembly 31 
• Running against Anna Caballero (D) in Democrat strong-hold Senate 14
• Supporting and advocating for Michael Maher in the U.S. House California District 21. Or even join the primary if they believe they are the right person to defeat Congressman Jim Costa. 

Going after a Democrat seat requires courage. It requires strong candidates to put themselves in enemy territory and risk defeat to make big wins for the Republican Party. Going after fellow conservatives in a district that is almost guaranteed to elect a Republican anyway achieves nothing. At the end of it, all the Valley will have is “a group of weakened GOP candidates and a collection of lost purple Senate, and Assembly districts that didn’t get the attention they needed, because CAGOP and voters were focused on the side-show in CA-20.”