CD-20 Republican Mike Boudreaux suspends campaign, Fong is now unopposed in November

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — It’s time for the curtain call in the months-long race to replace Kevin McCarthy in the 20th Congressional District.

Republican candidate and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux is suspending his campaign for CD-20.

In a video announcement Monday morning, Boudreaux stated he’s dropping out of the race and endorsing fellow Republican Congressman Vince Fong.

“Vince and my perspectives were uniquely the same yet uniquely different,” Boudreaux stated, reiterating a comment he’s continuously made — that while he and Fong are both qualified Republicans, one is a career politician, and the other is not.

“There are a lot of people that are very disappointed because they did want that change [from the McCarthy and Fong group],” Boudreaux explained. “And what I represented was very much change …”

In a Zoom interview with 17 News Monday morning ahead of the announcement, Boudreaux said, “I really don’t want to separate people from each other in a campaign that would be unnecessary for people to support one over the other. What we’re doing is we’re announcing the suspension of my campaign, my congressional campaign, with the support of Vince Fong.”

The two faced off in three elections so far in 2024 — the March 5 presidential primary and March 19 special primary (in which Fong and Boudreaux were the top two vote getters), as well as the May 21 special general election.

In all three, Fong led comfortably, securing Kern and Fresno counties which, together, make up nearly 80% of the district’s votes.

“Congressman Fong has been working down there 10, 12, 15 years,” Boudreaux said of the campaign’s difficulties. “Me, I had four and a half months to put my name into Kern, which was a challenge… If we were going to tackle November, we were going to have to have serious funding in behind us.”

With Boudreaux’s campaign suspension, Fong is now unopposed in the November general election race and will stay in Congress for the full two-year term too.

Fong, who had the endorsements of former President Donald Trump and other Capitol Hill Republicans, is also McCarthy’s protege and candidate of choice.

“Well, quite frankly, I wasn’t just running against Fong. I was running against McCarthy as well,” Boudreaux said. “So, I think that’s pretty well clear to anyone who paid attention to this race, and McCarthy has established himself as a fundraiser all across the nation. They call it the McCarthy machine, for a reason.”

Boudreaux also recalled why he first joined the race — in case Fong was barred by California’s Secretary of State from running.

But Fong won the lawsuit.

“And so that’s really what solidified my decision [to drop out], is that he was legally able to stay in the race,” the sheriff said.

He further detailed, “I was first asked to get into this campaign because [then-Assemblyman] Fong legally could not do so. There was a lot of questions as to the legality or the ability of him being able to run… I made it very clear that I got into this race so that we could have good quality candidates for Congressional District 20.”

“So, as we move forward, the momentum began to carry for Vince with the Trump endorsement, as well as winning the appeal, [and] he has [McCarthy’s] super PAC money that’s behind him.”

Boudreaux explained his campaign had its eyes set on making it past the May 21 general special election and that he doesn’t think McCarthy dislikes him. Rather, McCarthy has decided to put money behind his friend and mentee, Fong.

As a Kern native, Fong had the homebase advantage, proven by the numbers.

In the presidential primary, Fong got four times as many Kern votes as Boudreaux did.

In the special primary, Fong got three times as many votes as Boudreaux did.

Again, CD-20 has been all about the race to replace former Bakersfield Congressman and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Now that Boudreaux is out of the race, he is strongly considering swapping one campaign for another, expressing interest in running for state Senate. He also announced the launch of his own political action committee called Golden State Justice and hinted at starting his own podcast, likely to kick off in the Fall.

“The money that would be used against each other [in CD-20], I would like to use that money to help support good quality candidates so that we can have a really positive change,” Boudreaux said of his PAC’s goal. “[We’ll] Begin to support conservative belief candidates up and down the Central Valley.”

“Politics is not over in my future… I can tell you we are strongly considering a state Senate race,” the sheriff foreshadowed.

In endorsing Fong, Boudreaux noted: “[I hope he’s] not a Kevin McCarthy clone. I hope that he brings in his own unique perspective.”

Though the Fong campaign declined an interview on the matter, it released a statement:

“I thank Sheriff Boudreaux for his leadership in Tulare County and for the hard-fought campaign he ran for this seat.

“I am honored to represent our community in Congress. We are working hard every day to deliver results for the residents of the 20th Congressional District.

“I intend to continue reaching out to voters and will embrace the opportunity the November election provides to discuss the key issues facing our district and present real solutions to improve our safety, economy, and quality of life.”

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