Politics
California's Central Valley is voting, again, to replace Kevin McCarthy in Congress
Two weeks after narrowing the field of candidates to represent them in Congress starting next year, voters in the San Joaquin Valley are voting again.
On Tuesday, Central Valley voters will cast ballots in a separate special election to complete the remainder of former Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s term in the House of Representatives. The Bakersfield Republican left Congress at the end of 2023, with a year left in his term, after his own party ousted him as speaker of the House.
The fight to succeed McCarthy has pitted Republicans against Republicans in the 20th Congressional District, which includes Fresno, Kern, Kings and Tulare counties. The front-runners include McCarthy’s handpicked successor, Assemblymember Vince Fong; and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, a law-and-order conservative.
If either Fong or Bourdreaux wins the special election, he will head into the regular November election as the incumbent member of Congress, a significant advantage in the race to represent the San Joaquin Valley district in Congress in 2025 and 2026.
Being the incumbent on the November ballot would help “enormously,” said Republican consultant Rob Stutzman, who is not working for either candidate. “It’s a huge boost.”
Stutzman said voters probably wouldn’t want to back a different candidate months after sending someone to Washington. And, he said, being sworn into Congress after the special election would unlock support from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which spends to support incumbents in their reelection fights.
There are nine candidates on the special election ballot. Two are Democrats, including Marisa Wood, a middle school teacher who ran against McCarthy in 2022. Four are Republicans, including Fong, Boudreaux and Fresno casino owner Kyle Kirkland, who loaned his campaign $485,000, federal records show. Three candidates are running with no party preference.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in Tuesday’s special election, the race will go to a runoff on May 21.
Much of the Republican establishment has lined up behind Fong, who started his career as McCarthy’s district director before being elected to represent Bakersfield in the state Assembly.
Two super PACs, one funded by McCarthy’s political action committee, spent more than $670,000 to boost Fong through digital ads, text messages and mailers, federal filings show. One group called Central Valley Values sent ads about Wood to Democrats in the district, apparently in an attempt to help her advance to the general election. In a deep-red district, Fong would have an easy path to election in both races if he faced a Democrat.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank and his allies used a similar strategy in the California Senate race, boosting Republican Steve Garvey in an effort to keep Rep. Katie Porter, a fierce liberal competitor, out of the November election.
The strategy didn’t work in the Central Valley, where primary election results for the full two-year term show Fong with about 42% of the primary vote, Boudreaux with 24% and Wood with about 21%.
Fong also snagged an endorsement from former President Trump, a huge advantage in one of the most Republican congressional districts in California. Trump wrote last month on his social network, Truth Social, that Fong would work in Congress to “grow the economy, lower your taxes, cut burdensome regulations, champion American energy, and protect and defend the 2nd Amendment, which is under siege by the radical left.”
Fong said in a statement that the Central Valley is “ready to once again have leaders in DC, like President Trump, that will fight for our interests and values.”
Trump’s endorsement of Fong, Stutzman said, “really cuts the legs out from under any type of insurgency from the right.”
Boudreaux has cast himself as an alternative to the Central Valley’s establishment Republican politics. He has been endorsed by state Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) and David Giglio, the self-described “America First” candidate who dropped out of the congressional race last month.
The Central Valley is “demanding leadership in Washington with real experience confronting our biggest issues: safety and our open border,” Boudreaux said after the Associated Press said he would advance to the November ballot. Boudreaux advanced despite being “outspent 10-to-1 by swampy D.C. special interests and super PACs seeking to protect the status quo,” his campaign manager said in a statement.
The election got off to a rocky start, with legal confusion over whether Fong, who had initially filed to run for reelection in the 32nd Assembly District, is eligible to run for Congress. Fong changed his mind, filed to run for Congress and was barred from the ballot by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, who said that state law prohibits candidates from running for two offices in one election.
Fong sued, arguing that the law Weber cited has not been applicable since 2010, when California voters scrapped the state’s party nomination system and created a new system in which the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election regardless of their party affiliation. A Sacramento County judge sided with Fong in late December, ruling that he could appear on the ballot after all.
Weber’s office appealed the decision in late January and asked the 3rd District Court of Appeal to rule on the question of Fong’s eligibility by April 12, the deadline for Weber to certify the primary election results.
Politics
Trump celebrates after UN climate committee moves away from its most extreme global warming scenario
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted Democratic climate policies after scientists moved away from one of the most extreme global warming scenarios previously used in United Nations-backed climate modeling.
“GOOD RIDDANCE! After 15 years of Dumocrats promising that ‘Climate Change’ is going to destroy the Planet, the United Nations TOP Climate Committee just admitted that its own projections (RCP8.5) were WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump accused Democrats of using climate fears to justify energy policies and government spending.
“For far too long Climate Activism has been used by Dumocrats to scare Americans, push horrible Energy Polices, and fund BILLIONS into their bogus research programs,” he continued. “Unlike the Dumocrats, who use Climate Alarmism nonsense to push their GREEN NEW SCAM, my Administration will always be based on TRUTH, SCIENCE, and FACT!”
DAVID MARCUS: NEW YORK TIMES ANNOUNCES THE END OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX
President Donald Trump spoke to the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on April 16, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Trump’s comments came after climate scientists moved away from using the most extreme emissions scenario developed under the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC’s worst-case scenarios, which included significant global temperature increases and sea level rises, included global crop failures and even potential extinction events on the scale of the dinosaurs.
The scenario, known as RCP8.5 and later SSP5-8.5, projected severe global warming outcomes under extremely high emissions assumptions.
CONSERVATIVE GROUPS DECLARE 2025 A TIPPING POINT ON ‘CLIMATE HYSTERIA’ AS TRUMP UNLEASHES ENERGY AGENDA
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin speaks alongside President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Feb. 12, 2026, announcing the rollback of the 2009 Endangerment Finding on climate-warming emissions. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
According to GB News, the scenario is being phased out after researchers concluded it no longer reflects the most plausible trajectory based on renewable energy growth, emissions trends and climate policies.
Researchers writing in the journal Geoscientific Model Development said future climate scenarios should continue to cover a wide range of outcomes, from severe warming to lower-emissions futures.
“For the 21st century, this range will be smaller than assessed before: on the high-end of the range, the high emission levels (quantified by SSP5-8.5) have become implausible, based on trends in the costs of renewables, the emergence of climate policy and recent emission trends.”
TRUMP OFFICIALS URGED TO BOYCOTT UN CLIMATE SUMMIT AS TRUMP SEETHES CLIMATE CHANGE IS A ‘CON JOB’
Trump’s post follows remarks he made last September at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where he called climate change a “con job.”
“It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” Trump said at the time. “All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong.”
“They were made by stupid people that have cost their country’s fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success,” he continued.
EPA CHIEF ZELDIN DELIVERS DAGGER TO THE HEART OF OBAMA’S CLIMATE CHANGE AGENDA ON ‘RUTHLESS’ PODCAST
President Donald Trump speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23, 2025. Environmental and energy groups called on the Trump administration to boycott the U.N. Climate Conference in November, according to a letter obtained by Fox Digital. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)
Trump’s comments drew criticism from Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who called the remarks “total disinformation.”
“You know yesterday at the U.N., President Trump said, ‘Climate change is a hoax,’ because it’s just total disinformation,” Clinton said during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. “It’s a statement that is just not true, and yet being propagated.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin later defended Trump’s climate remarks in an interview with Fox News.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
President Donald Trump speaks during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Sept. 23, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“The president is absolutely right and we’ve seen it in the name of climate change, these left wing policies willing to cause extreme economic pain for people who can at least afford it,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Lake Balboa resident Jose Meraz is looking for a mayor who will turn L.A. around, cleaning up streets that he says are “filled with garbage.”
Schoolteacher Tracey Schroeder, a Republican candidate for state Assembly, is unhappy about crime, open-air drug use and the slow rebuilding effort in the wake of the Palisades fire, which destroyed thousands of homes.
Greg Whitley, a resident of Reseda, said he’s frustrated with homelessness and the influx of what he called “criminal illegal aliens.”
“I live with the Spanish community. Great people,” he said. “But these illegals that come here for criminal reasons, they’re making them look bad, and they don’t like it.”
All three showed up outside a five-bedroom home in Sherman Oaks on Saturday, looking to speak with reality TV personality Spencer Pratt, now waging an insurgent campaign for Los Angeles mayor in the June 2 election.
Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, left, poses with a supporter during a community meet-and-greet event Saturday at a home on Longridge Avenue in a residential neighborhood of Sherman Oaks.
(Etienne Laurent/For The Times)
Standing in the entry to the home’s two-car garage, the onetime star of “The Hills” spent more than two hours shaking hands, giving hugs and posing for photos with his admirers, who waited in line under punishing San Fernando Valley sunshine.
Pratt used social media to invite the public to the campaign event, which took place in the district represented by one of his mayoral opponents, City Councilmember Nithya Raman.
He did not deliver any speeches outside the property, which is listed for rent on Zillow for $15,950 per month. He and a member of his security personnel said he was not taking interviews.
Pratt has been running in voter surveys behind Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for reelection, sometimes swapping places with Raman for second and third. He turned in a strong debate performance this month and has been outpacing his rivals in fundraising, according to the most recent disclosure reports.
While running for office, Pratt has blamed Bass for the 2025 wildfire that destroyed much of Pacific Palisades, including his home. He has railed against the city’s handling of homelessness, saying he would pursue a “treatment first” approach toward people with drug addiction who are living on the street.
Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, back to the camera, speaks with supporters Saturday during a community meet-and-greet event.
(Etienne Laurent/For The Times)
Pratt said recently that he wants to increase Los Angeles Police Department staffing to 12,500 officers over the next decade, up from about 8,600. Speaking with one supporter on Saturday, he said the city needs to “make sure all the laws are being enforced.”
“Plenty of functioning cities enforce their laws,” he said.
That message resonated with many of the people in line.
“He is advocating for the safety and security of our families — specifically, for mothers to be able to walk their kids to school,” said Saba Lahar, a resident of Sherman Oaks, moments after talking to the candidate.
Pratt fans dropped off ballots, picked up lawn signs and stopped to pick up coffee drinks from the Hustle N Dough doughnut truck parked out front.
Some showed up even though they cannot cast ballots in L.A.
Ruben Jr., no last name given takes a picture of his father during mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt’s community meet-and-greet Saturday in Sherman Oaks.
(Etienne Laurent/For The Times)
Brian Rodda, who runs a walking food tour company, described himself as “an unsatisfied Angeleno” even though he lives in West Hollywood, which is not part of the city of L.A.
“Sadly, because I do live in West Hollywood, I cannot vote for him,” he said. “But I certainly think we need a change.”
Politics
ActBlue CEO faces June 10 grilling after fundraising powerhouse allegedly misled Congress on foreign donations
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
FIRST ON FOX: The embattled head of a Democratic fundraising behemoth is headed for a congressional grilling next month over allegations of fraudulent donations on its platform.
ActBlue’s CEO Regina Wallace-Jones will testify in a public hearing before the House Administration Committee on June 10, a committee spokesman told Fox News Digital.
Wallace-Jones’ agreement to testify comes as ActBlue faces mounting scrutiny over whether it misled Congress regarding foreign donations on its payment processing platform.
“Ms. Wallace-Jones allegedly misled our committee at the outset of our investigation into ActBlue’s fraud prevention standards,” House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said in a statement. “It’s past time we set the record straight and got answers for the American people. I look forward to hearing her testify.”
House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., holds a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 10, 2025. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT ACTBLUE ROCKED BY ALLEGATIONS IT MISLED CONGRESS ABOUT FOREIGN DONATIONS
The statement referenced an explosive report in The New York Times earlier this year that said ActBlue’s then-outside counsel warned Wallace-Jones in 2023 the group may have misrepresented facts to Steil’s committee about its vetting of potentially illegal foreign donations.
Under U.S. law, foreign nationals who are not lawful permanent residents are generally prohibited from donating to candidates seeking federal office or political action committees.
Steil previously requested that Wallace-Jones testify before his committee on May 19. The invitation was met with outrage from ActBlue’s lawyers, who dismissed the committee action as a “partisan attack.”
But Republicans have pointed to documents that ActBlue has allegedly withheld in response to subpoenas issued in 2025, which Steil has characterized as “deliberately incomplete.”
All five current or former ActBlue employees who appeared in depositions with the committee invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination a combined 146 times, according to an interim staff report released in April by House Republicans.
ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones, a delegate from California, wears a U.S.-flag themed outfit ahead of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 19, 2024.
TEXAS AG PAXTON SUES DEM FUNDRAISING PLATFORM ACTBLUE, ALLEGING ‘FRAUDULENT AND FOREIGN DONATIONS’
The House Administration Committee has been probing ActBlue’s fraud prevention safeguards since 2023, when Steil’s panel investigated the group’s failure to require credit card verification value (CVV) when processing payments.
“Given ActBlue’s demonstrated history of misleading Congress, there is considerable reason to believe that ActBlue may have deliberately withheld this responsive material to impede our investigation,” Steil and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote in a letter to Wallace-Jones in April.
In the letter, the senior Republicans also directed ActBlue to produce a trove of documents related to its vetting of political contributions from abroad.
Wallace-Jones has denied making false statements to Congress. The group’s lawyers have previously characterized the investigation as politically motivated and contended that ActBlue has been forthright with the committee.
Amid the GOP scrutiny, ActBlue has experienced a wave of resignations from senior legal and compliance staff.
An election countdown calendar hangs at the ActBlue fundraising office in Somerville, Mass. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The June hearing notice immediately follows the House Administration Committee advancing legislation to crack down on fraudulent political donations, including illegal contributions from foreigners. The campaign finance measure cleared Steil’s panel unanimously on Thursday.
“It’s a positive sign that people are beginning to take this risk and this threat seriously,” the Wisconsin Republican told Spectrum News.
-
World45 seconds agoWHO declares Ebola outbreak in Central Africa a public health emergency after 80 suspected deaths
-
Politics7 minutes agoTrump celebrates after UN climate committee moves away from its most extreme global warming scenario
-
Health13 minutes agoAncient Chinese movement shows promise for reducing blood pressure at home, study says
-
Sports19 minutes agoNapoleon Solo wins 151st Preakness Stakes
-
Technology25 minutes agoLicense plate cameras at Home Depot and Lowe’s spark privacy fears
-
Business31 minutes ago
Commentary: Trump’s ‘weird war’ on wind power will jeopardize our energy future and cost Americans billions
-
Entertainment37 minutes agoSpotify doubles down on video podcasts at its Hollywood studios
-
Lifestyle43 minutes agoArt is a sport, sport is an art. Both demand hustle — and make life worth living
