Dem
51
GOP
49
As we noted earlier this week, Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-CA) is running to keep his seat in the state Assembly, and at the same time is running for the U.S. House seat that was vacated by Kevin McCarthy. Secretary of State Shirley Weber does not approve of this double dipping, and filed suit asking the state courts to force Fong to choose.
Yesterday, the state court of appeals decided that Fong can indeed remain on the ballot twice. Weber pointed out that, theoretically, a person could run for every single House seat in California, and that shouldn't be allowed. The court conceded that such a thing was theoretically possible, but that isn't the current situation, and it's a little too late to be forcing candidates to abandon a race after a primary has been held.
Whether Fong should run for two offices at the same time is a different question. He's unopposed for his seat in the Assembly, so that job is just his insurance policy. As to the House race, he's McCarthy's preferred successor and he took 42% of the vote in the primary. Fong's opponent will be Republican Mike Boudreaux, who took 24%. Fong is likely to cruise to victory, but keeping his options open may give the voters the impression that he's not fully committed to the House race, or at least that he's lacking confidence. Neither is a good message to send, and when you're the frontrunner by a lot, why risk throwing a wrench into the works?
Meanwhile, the justices dismissed the possibility of a person running for every California House seat at once, but that is exactly the sort of thing that Rocky De La Fuente, who tries to get on as many ballots as is possible—running for the U.S. Senate in, say, 6 different states at the same time—would do. Given that the loophole has now been put on display for all to see, it is likely that the California legislature will close it, and indeed, there are already bills in process that would do so.
And as long as we are on the subject of California politics, it was announced yesterday that there will be a recount in the CA-16 primary, where state Assemblyman Evan Low (D) and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian (D) finished in a 30,249-vote tie for second place. Neither Low nor Simitian wanted this, since for each of them the continued survival of their candidacy is now a coin flip. However, it's really the only fair thing for the first-place finisher, former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo (D). We don't know the exact politics of the three candidates, but if one of them is pretty similar to Liccardo (say, both Liccardo and Low are moderates), then it gives a huge boost to the candidate who is the outlier (in this hypothetical, Simitian), even though that candidate finished in second place (and just one vote from third place). (Z)