Vince Fong sworn in to Kevin McCarthy’s congressional seat. What it means for California

Vince Fong was sworn in to succeed Kevin McCarthy on Monday, bolstering the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

Fong, R-Bakersfield, will serve for at least the next seven months in the seat vacated by McCarthy, his former boss.

Fong, 44, will likely win election again against Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux in November for a two-year term to start in January 2025. The former Bakersfield Assemblyman, McCarthy’s chosen successor, beat the Republican sheriff in May for the rest of this term — and gained incumbency advantage for the fall.

“I’m excited for this opportunity,” Fong told The Bee after being sworn in on Monday, “humbled and just overwhelmed by the opportunity that the voters of the 20th district have given me.”

California’s 20th Congressional District, a deep-red stretch in the San Joaquin Valley, has been without House representation since McCarthy retired in December. He left Congress following his October ousting as speaker of the House, a role he long coveted and held for nine months.

The former speaker was at the U.S. Capitol on Monday when Fong was sworn in, as were the new congressman’s parents, wife and other family members.

With Fong in the House, there are 218 Republicans, 213 Democrats and four vacancies. That razor-thin majority gives GOP rebels outsize impact.

Fong, once McCarthy’s district director, said that he would prioritize legislation on securing the Southern Border, water infrastructure, small businesses and food and energy production.

Jumping into Congress mid-session, Fong doesn’t necessarily get to choose which House committees he can join. He said, at least in the future, an important one would be the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which writes important policy related to tax, trade and Social Security. He also cited Energy and Commerce would be important to California’s 20th, home to the state’s oil-and-gas hub Kern County.

California’s 20th, where 47% of registered voters are Republican and 27% are Democrats, covers parts of Kern, Kings, Fresno and Tulare counties. Most of the voters in the 20th are in Kern County, where Fong and McCarthy’s home base is.

Fong had the support of McCarthy allies, donors and the ex-Speaker himself in the campaign sprint to the March primaries and May runoff.

He follows in a legacy fueled by the Kern County political machine that has helped powerful GOP congressmen control the district for over four decades. Before McCarthy was their former boss, retired Rep. Bill Thomas, who once chaired the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means. Thomas endorsed McCarthy, his former staffer, to replace him when he retired.

Fong started his political career as an aide to Thomas.

In Sacramento, Fong represented the area that’s now the 32nd Assembly District since 2016 and was the top Republican on the powerful budget committee, another experience that he said would help him tackle refocusing and reinvesting federal resources.

Being in the super-minority of Republicans in the Legislature, Fong said, prepares him well for the slim GOP majority in Congress.

“It’s time to get to work,” Fong said.