CA-20: Outgoing Rep. Kevin McCarthy has endorsed GOP Assemblyman Vince Fong in the race to succeed him even though there are serious questions about whether the former McCarthy district director can even run for this reliably red seat.
The assemblyman filed for reelection ahead of last week's deadline before announcing Monday that he'd changed his mind and would campaign for Congress. (California automatically extended the filing deadline from Dec. 8 to Dec. 13 in House and legislative races where an eligible incumbent did not run.) The California secretary of state's office told Politico Monday that it's too late for Fong to get off the ballot for the legislature and "a person cannot run for more than one office in the same election."
"This is an unprecedented situation," Fong consultant Ryan Gardiner acknowledged to the Bakersfield Californian that same day, though he argued the path ahead was still viable. "A lot of this is dependent on how the filing process goes at the county and the larger procedure that we're having to go through now," Gardiner said. "We feel confident he will be a candidate for Congress in the March election."
Another Republican, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, now says he's thinking about campaigning for Congress. And to complicate things even more, former GOP state Sen. Andy Vidak, who expressed interest in running to replace McCarthy, tells gvwire.com he's raising money to succeed Fong if filing reopens for his Assembly seat.