Former Trump administration nominee Connie Conway has advanced to a second round in June in a special election in California to fill a vacant seat in the U.S. House after Republicans Deputy Devin Nunes resigned lead the media company of former President Donald Trump.
The run for second place in the second round was too early to be called, after election officials had stopped counting on Wednesday morning. It will take at least a week to complete the counting of votes, as ballots can be mailed by April 12th. Officials said they will not post additional results until Thursday in Tulare County and Friday in Fresno County, both in the district.
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Nunes was an ardent supporter of Trump on Capitol Hill. If Conway finally succeeds, Nunes’ replacement would also have ties to the former president: Conway served as executive director of the California Department of Agriculture’s Farm Services Agency during the Trump administration.
Conway, a former GOP leader in the state assembly and a former county supervisor, opened a gap on five other competitors with about 34 percent of the vote, according to a preliminary ballot count.
Elections in the Republican-leaning District 22 have been largely ignored, as Democrats and National Republicans are set for the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress in 2023.
In a statement, California Republican Party President Jessica Millan Patterson congratulated Conway, adding: Conway’s victory in June as a prelude to what November will bring when the road to a Republican majority in the House passes directly through our state. “
Several rivals rallied behind her, including Democrats Lourin Hubbard, manager of the state Department of Water Resources, and Eric Garcia, a veteran of the Navy and Iraq war, and Republican Matt Stoll. a former Navy fighter pilot and owner of a small business.
Hubbard was the closest candidate to Conway, with 20% of the vote.
The seat of the central valley of the state, sometimes called the nation’s salad for its agricultural production, is expected to remain in Republican hands.
As no candidate was able to claim the majority of votes, a second round between the top two will coincide with the June 7 state primary election.
Nunes’ unexpected departure in January created an unusual situation for his former voters: the winner of the election will only serve a few months in Congress and the district will disappear next year due to redesigned boundaries.
Mail voting began last month and early returns pointed to low turnout. With the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the pandemic dominating the headlines, the campaigns say that the voters they come in contact with are sometimes surprised to learn that there are elections or are unaware that Nunes, a prominent loyalist of While in Congress, Trump had resigned.
There are six candidates for the vote: four Republicans and two Democrats. Two Republicans are likely to run for office in June, although Hubbard, a Democrat, ranks second.
Nunes, 48, was comfortably re-elected in November 2020 before leaving with a one-year term to join the Trump Media & Technology Group. The company expects its social media platform to compete with competitors such as Twitter and Facebook, which blocked the former president’s accounts after the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
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Other candidates include Republican Elizabeth Heng, a technology executive who lost a congressional candidacy in a neighboring district in 2018 and briefly ran in the U.S. Senate; and Michael Maher, a Navy veteran and former FBI Special Agent.
There are different agendas at stake. Conway, if elected, plans to serve only the remainder of Nunes’ term. However, Garcia, Maher and Stoll are also running in the June state primaries in a newly drawn district, 21, which includes a slab in Nunes territory. In this race, they will face Democratic Rep. Jim Costa, and hope that a victory in the old quarter of Nunes will be a springboard to win the 21st.
A second round would be politically complicated for Garcia, Maher or Stoll. In this case, the name of a candidate would end up appearing twice in the June vote: once in a second round for the vacant seat of Nunes and a second time in a new district of the House for the term beginning on 2023. Voters could easily be confused by seeing the same name twice.
With little at stake in the competition to replace Nunes, money has been scarce and, as a result, publicity has been sporadic.
Federal fundraising records show that Garcia, for example, raised more than $ 200,000, but only had $ 1,700 in the bank in mid-March. Heng raised $ 215,000 and had about $ 60,000 in his hand at the time. But he also amassed $ 95,000 in unpaid bills, leaving his campaign effectively in debt.
The result will also not tip the balance of power on Capitol Hill, where Democrats have a narrow majority.
The little-seen contest takes place in a challenging political environment for Congress Democrats. Polls show that many Americans are unhappy with the country’s leadership and President Joe Biden’s approval ratings have been falling.
Although the competition for the vacant Nunes seat has been a later idea nationwide, California is at the center of the fight for the House. There are about half a dozen highly competitive districts in the June vote. These contests are a rarity in the liberal-minded state, where Democrats hold all state positions, dominate the Legislature, and have a 42-10 lead in the Congressional delegation.
Nationwide, 30 House Democrats and 15 Republicans are not seeking re-election this year. In addition, there are 5 vacancies due to resignations or deaths.
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