Republican Vince Fong has won reelection to represent California's 20th Congressional District, with the Associated Press projecting the Bakersfield incumbent as the winner over Democratic challenger Sandra Van Scotter of Ridgecrest. The call came even as ballots continued to be tallied across the state, leaving the final scope of Fong's victory still unsettled on election night.
AP Makes the Call as Counting Continues
The Associated Press has projected that Republican Vince Fong will win the race for Congressional District 20, according to KGET 17 News. The New York Times also reported the call, noting simply that the race was called by the Associated Press, according to The New York Times. Despite the projection, ballots were still being counted throughout the state, KGET's report noted.
Fong has represented District 20 in Congress since 2024, after previously serving in the State Assembly representing California's 32nd District, per KGET's report. He was first elected to the seat in a May 2024 special election to finish out the remainder of former Rep. Kevin McCarthy's term, according to The Fresno Bee.
A District Drawn to Favor Republicans
The 20th District has been considered safely Republican since its boundaries were redrawn in 2023, per the station's report. That edge shows up in the voter rolls: nearly half of the district's 456,405 registered voters, or 215,098, were registered Republicans as of a June snapshot citing California Secretary of State data, the Bee reported.
Van Scotter worked for two decades as a respiratory therapist and as a direct support professional before launching her first run for public office this year, the same outlet noted. She decided to run for the office because of healthcare and food benefit eligibility restrictions enacted under H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to The Bakersfield Californian.
Primary Results Set the Stage
Fong's November win followed a lopsided June primary, though exact figures vary depending on when each outlet captured the count. A Fresno Bee report citing state election results said Fong secured 68.2% of the vote to Van Scotter's 28.8% in the June 2 primary. An earlier snapshot from the same count, taken around 9:59 p.m. that night with about 79,689 votes tallied, had Fong at 69.4% and Van Scotter at 27.8%, the Bee reported separately.
The Bakersfield Californian's own election-night tracking, meanwhile, showed Fong with 69.2%, or 54,333 votes, and Van Scotter with 28%, or 21,938 votes, as of 9:19 p.m. that Tuesday with 74.3% of precincts partially reporting, according to The Bakersfield Californian. The district spans parts of Kern, Kings, Tulare and Fresno counties, and Republicans held a 20.6-point registration advantage over Democrats there as of September, according to the seed report from The Bakersfield Californian.
Election Night Numbers Still Moving
On election night, Fong widened his lead over Van Scotter as additional ballots were counted, per that report. With 327 of 764 precincts partially reporting as of 9:23 p.m. Tuesday, Fong had 62.1% of the vote to Van Scotter's 37.9%, according to the California Secretary of State's office as cited in that account. Van Scotter said she was not surprised Fong led and added that she expected the difference to narrow as the evening continued, the report said.
Fong has aligned himself with President Donald Trump on major issues, including the war with Iran, according to the same account. Van Scotter, a longtime health care worker originally from Chicago who now lives in Ridgecrest, opposed various actions taken by the Trump administration and said she aims to build on Democrats' election results in the district going forward, per that reporting.
