Written by by Evan Symon at californiaglobe.com
A decision by the California 3rd District Court of Appeal made earlier this week found that Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield) will be allowed to run in both a Congressional and Assembly race this November, despite opposition from Secretary of State Shirley Weber.
Since December, the question of if Fong can appear in both elections in the November 2024 ballot or if he can only run for the Assembly has been a major question. Before December, Fong jumped back and forth between running for McCarthy’s seat or sticking to running for reelection to the Assembly, due to both McCarthy being unsure of resigning and Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) not being clear about running herself. On December 6th, McCarthy announced that he would retire 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 Grove declining the run the next day, the field only opened up wider because of many assuming that Grove was McCarthy’s “heir apparent”.
Fong 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. Secretary of State Weber quickly halted Fong’s ambitions a week later noting that Fong would be breaking state law by running for two races at the same time, and barring him from running for Congress. At the same time, he was allowed to run for the 20th House District special election to fill out McCarthy’s term, as the election would occur in late March and a runoff in May.