A judge ruled on Thursday that Vince Fong, the candidate former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) endorsed in the race to replace him in Congress is eligible to run for the seat.
Assemblymember Fong was deemed ineligible to run by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber earlier this month because his candidacy violated the state’s election code.
Fong had already filed for re-election to his state Assembly seat before changing his mind and decided to run for McCarthy’s seat in the House after a state senator declined to run.
Fong was not allowed to withdraw as a candidate from the Assembly race because the deadline had passed. Since California law prohibits any candidate from filing nomination papers for more than one office, he was not allowed to run for Congress.
On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne W.L. Chang overturn Weber’s decision ruling that the statute “is inapplicable to Fong and cannot be used as a reason to preclude him” from the primary ballot, according to Politico.
“Today’s ruling is a victory for the voters of the 20th Congressional District, who will now have the opportunity to select the candidate of their choice in the March 5th election,” Fong said in a statement after the ruling. “I am grateful that Judge Chang upheld the integrity of our elections and sided with Central Valley voters against an overreaching Sacramento politician.”
The district is solidly red which means whoever wins the GOP primary will likely end up as the representative in Congress. McCarthy announced earlier this month that he will retire at the end of the year.
