Vicente Fong was sworn in to succeed Kevin McCarthy on Monday, reinforcing the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
Fong, R-Bakersfield, will serve for at least the next seven months in the seat vacated by McCarthy, his former boss.
Fong, 44, will likely win election again against Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux in November for a two-year term beginning in January 2025. The former Bakersfield deputy, McCarthy’s chosen successor, to knock the Republican sheriff in May for the rest of this term — and gained the upper hand in office in the fall.
“I’m excited about this opportunity,” Fong told The Bee after being sworn in Monday, “humbled and simply overwhelmed by the opportunity the voters of the 20th District have given me.”
California’s 20th Congressional District, a deep-red stretch of the San Joaquin Valley, has been without representation in the House since McCarthy retired in December. He left Congress after his removal in October as speaker of the House, a position he had long coveted and held for nine months.
The former president was at the US Capitol on Monday when Fong was sworn in, as were the new congressman’s parents, wife and other family members.
With Fong in the House, there are 218 Republicans, 213 Democrats and four vacancies. That slim majority gives the GOP rebels an outsized impact.
Fong, who was previously McCarthy’s district director, said he would prioritize legislation on southern border security, water infrastructure, small businesses and food and energy production.
Entering Congress mid-session, Fong doesn’t necessarily choose which House committees he can serve on. He said that, at least in the future, an important one would be the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which writes important policies related to taxes, trade and Social Security. He also cited that Energy and Commerce would be important for the 20th anniversary of California, home to the state’s oil and gas hub, Kern County.
California’s 20th, where 47% of registered voters are Republicans and 27% are Democrats, covers parts of Kern, Kings, Fresno and Tulare counties. The majority of voters on the 20th are in Kern County, where Fong and McCarthy are based.
Fong had the support of McCarthy’s allies, donors and the former president himself in the campaign for the March primaries and the May runoff.
He follows a legacy fueled by Kern County’s political machine, which helped powerful Republican congressmen control the district for more than four decades. Before McCarthy was his former boss, retired Rep. Bill Thomas, who once chaired the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Thomas backed McCarthy, a former employee of his, to replace him when he retired.
Fong began his political career as an aide to Thomas.
In Sacramento, Fong He has represented the area that is now the 32nd Assembly District since 2016 and was the top Republican on the powerful budget committee, another experience he said would help him tackle the reorientation and reinvestment of federal resources.
Being in the Republican super-minority in the Legislature, Fong said, prepares him well for the slim Republican majority in Congress.
“It’s time to get to work,” Fong said.
