California Secretary Of State Rules Vince Fong Ineligible For House Race

The California Secretary of State’s office ruled during the weekend that Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield) cannot run for Congressman Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) 20th District House seat because of him already running for his Assembly seat again.

For the last few weeks, Fong has jumped back and forth between running for McCarthy’s seat or sticking to running for reelection to the Assembly. On December 6th, McCarthy announced that he will be retiring at the end of the year, prompting the safe GOP district to suddenly be open. Numerous candidates quickly jumped into the race, and following Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) declining the run the next day, the field only opened up wider because of many assuming that Grove was McCarthy’s “heir apparent”.

Fong had originally announced that he wouldn’t be running, instead saying that he would stick to the Assembly. But with a race still devoid of any major candidates with prior elected experience, Fong changed course on December 11th, announcing that he would run after all.

“It is my strong belief that the Central Valley must continue to be represented by proven, conservative leaders in Congress. In light of recent developments and in an attempt to unite our community in this critical moment in our nation’s history, I have decided to run for Congress in 2024,” posted Fong on X, formerly Twitter.

It is my strong belief that the Central Valley must continue to be represented by proven, conservative leaders in Congress. In light of recent developments and in an attempt to unite our community in this critical moment in our nation’s history, I have decided to run for Congress… pic.twitter.com/qZdS7H2uTn

— Vince Fong (@vfong) December 11, 2023

However, Fong’s run was immediately flagged by the California Secretary of State’s office. As Fong was already running for Assembly, Fong couldn’t enter another race or remove paperwork from one race to run for another, as per state law. Nonetheless, Fong continued. While he had some defenders, such as the California Republican Party (CAGOP), most agreed with the California SOS. Other candidates in the Congressional race, including David Giglio (R) even put forward legal challenges against him.

“Last week, Assemblyman Fong stated that after much prayer and deliberation, he had decided not to run for Congress to replace his former boss Kevin McCarthy, and would instead seek reelection to the State Assembly in District 32,” Giglio said last week. “Now, after apparently deciding that the Lord gave him poor advice, Mr. Fong has had a change of heart and announced that he intends to run for Congress to replace Kevin McCarthy despite having filed and qualified for reelection to the State Assembly at the close of the legal nomination period on Friday, December 8, 2023. While the Lord might forgive Mr. Fong for going back on his word, the laws of the State of California make it clear that what he is attempting to do is illegal under two sections of the state election code.”

“We will not let K-Street Kevin McCarthy, spineless RINOs, and special interest groups steal another deep red seat from President Trump and MAGA. They can try to break all the laws they want in order to eliminate me, but I refuse to back down and allow them to steal an important congressional election from the people of the Central Valley and the nation.”

Fong and the House

The SOS continued with their investigation through the week, and during the weekend, came to a final ruling: the law prohibits Fong from running for the House.

“The California Secretary of State’s Office confirmed today that state law prohibits Assemblymember Vince Fong  from running as a candidate for the 20th Congressional District of California because he had previously filed paperwork to run for reelection to the California State Assembly,” the SOS’s office said during the weekend.

“Under state law, a candidate who has filed their declaration of candidacy is not permitted to withdraw as a candidate at that primary election. Mr. Fong filed his completed nomination documents for Assembly District 32 prior to the close of the December 8, 2023 filing deadline. Mr. Fong then submitted completed nomination documents for Congressional District 20 during the 5-day extension period triggered by the incumbent’s decision not to seek re-election. State law prohibits any candidate from filing nomination papers for more than one office at the same election.”

“As such, the Secretary of State’s office has determined that Mr. Fong’s filed nomination papers for Congressional District 20 were improperly submitted. Mr. Fong will not appear on the list of certified candidates for Congressional District 20 that our office will transmit to county election officials on candidates on December 28.”

While most expected it to be ruled as such, Fong and the CAGOP immediately retorted.

“In a seat that heavily favors Republicans, Sacramento Democrats have decided to deprive voters out of a complete slate of candidates by rejecting Assemblyman Fong’s legitimate candidacy, despite the fact that he was already deemed qualified by Kern County,” said GOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson on X. “Secretary Weber’s role should have solely included certifying the candidate list, but instead she injected politics into the process to pick and choose what candidates could go before voters. The Sacramento Democrat machine should not get to put their thumb on the scale and determine what Republican candidates who appropriately followed the law should get to run for office. Voters in California’s 20th Congressional District deserve better.”

Read CAGOP Chairwoman Jessica @MillanPatterson’s full statement on the @CASOSVote’s egregious decision on #CA20 pic.twitter.com/wOZyPkPfQ7

— CAGOP (@CAGOP) December 16, 2023

Fong’s campaign has also said that they will challenge the ruling in court. However, with ballots to be printed soon, such a ruling in his favor would need to come down soon, and even then the state would likely appeal back. For most, Fong being not allowed to run for the House made sense because of the law.

“The law is very clear on this,” said Mark Georgiou, a legal advisor to political campaigns in several western states, to the Globe on Monday. “What happened is Fong wanted the Assembly again and assumed that McCarthy would just run again, or if he didn’t, that Grove would go in. That’s what that 7th announcement was all about. Then Grove bailed, and Fong saw an opening. He obviously wants the House seat, but he just didn’t foresee the race opening up this year. And honestly, an open year was his in, as strong GOP seats in California don’t open too often.”

“Honestly, he declared too early, especially with McCarthy facing all that heat earlier this year, and wanted to kind of reneg on it for the bigger seat. The law says differently. Bad luck, but he could still run for a higher office in the future. If he had grace, he could have played being too late to the punch with a joke, back a candidate, and then a higher office later on. He went this route instead though, and predictably, was stopped pretty quickly. Him and the CAGOP and McCarthy can go on about how unfair this is, but in all honesty, it’s just the law. It’s like getting mad at the tree when you veer your car off the road into it.”

More on Fong’s case against the state over the election law is likely to come out soon.