We break down the local election so you don’t have to: Winners and races too close to call
The nationwide Republican red wave of election victories didn’t materialize as expected, but GOP candidates appear to have made a strong showing in the San Joaquin Valley.
Congressman Kevin McCarthy is still hoping to achieve the pinnacle he’s long coveted: speaker of the House of Representatives.
McCarthy’s huge win for the 20th District over Democrat Marisa Wood — he’s currently up 67.6% to her 32.4% — was a foregone conclusion. According to KGET-TV, McCarthy’s hometown station in Bakersfield, he has yet to lose an election. Meanwhile, Wood was a first-timer taking on one of America’s most powerful politicians, as McCarthy is the GOP minority leader in the House. Wood exhibited courage to run, but had no chance in the safest GOP district in California for a Republican.
With his victory, McCarthy will now represent much of the area once held by former congressman Devin Nunes, including Clovis.
As of Wednesday morning, neither the House nor Senate could yet be called for either the GOP or Democrats. Republicans still are likely to flip control of the House to their party and hold what could be a slim majority. If that happens, McCarthy’s GOP colleagues will vote on whether they want him to replace San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi as speaker. Given that McCarthy has studiously lobbied Republican members for that post, his rise to the speaker’s post would be all but inevitable.
Valley sees red
While the national picture for control of Congress remains undecided, a decided red wave of GOP success took place in the Valley.
The key headline is GOP incumbent David Valadao is leading Democrat Rudy Salas for the 22nd District, which covers Kings County and parts of Kern and Tulare counties.
It was one of the main battlegrounds in the nation, with Democrats making it one of their top seats to capture. But as he has done in years past, Valadao had a good showing, despite a strong Democratic edge in registration and facing his most formidable opponent yet in Salas, who represents much of the district now in the state Assembly.
The initial results are only partial. More ballots remain to be counted, so whether Valadao prevails is still unknown.
Similarly, in the newly created 13th District, Republican John Duarte held a 200-vote lead over Democrat Adam Gray. This district, which runs from western Fresno County north to San Joaquin County, was another key battleground. Gray is a state Assemblyman from Merced and got significant support during the campaign from the sheriffs in Fresno, Merced and Stanislaus counties. Duarte is a nursery owner who sought the backing of allies in agriculture.
Republican incumbent Tom McClintock easily defeated Democrat Mike Barkley for the 5th District, an eight-county area running along the Sierra foothills.
Standing for Democrats was longtime Valley congressional member Jim Costa. He will represent the newly drawn 21st District, which covers Fresno County and a portion of Tulare County.
Costa’s deep roots locally, and the familiarity voters have with him, proved too much for GOP challenger Michael Maher to overcome, with Costa getting 53.4% to Maher’s 46.6%. Costa remains popular with local voters who have seen him deliver funding and programs to the region.
State races
In Valley races for state Assembly and Senate, incumbency proved the winning factor, with Republicans holding the edge in total victories.
In Fresno’s Assembly District 8 race, longtime incumbent Republican Jim Patterson easily defeated Libertarian Thomas Nichols, a write-in candidate. No Democrat ran against Patterson. He now gets to represent a sprawling 8th District that covers seven counties and goes from Gold Country to the Owens Valley in Eastern California.
Another Republican, Devon Mathis of Tulare, easily won election to District 33, which has parts of Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties.
Shannon Grove, a Bakersfield Republican, won District 12 in the Senate, which includes Clovis as well as Kern and Tulare counties.
In Senate District 16, a Democrat senator seeking to represent new turf — Melissa Hurtado of Sanger — is trailing Republican David Shepard 52.6% to 47.4%. The district takes in parts of Fresno, Kern, Kings and Tulare counties.
Remaining too close to call is Assembly District 27, which covers western Fresno County, most of Madera County and all of Merced County. Democrat Esmeralda Soria, a Fresno City Councilmember, is ahead of Republican Mark Pazin, a former Merced County sheriff, by less than 300 votes.
On the positive side for Democrats, incumbent Anna Caballero won election to District 14, which covers parts of Fresno, western Fresno County, and Madera, Merced and Tulare counties. In the Assembly, incumbent Joaquin Arambula easily won re-election, taking District 31, which covers the southern half of Fresno.
