Republican Rep. Tom McClintock wins CA’s 5th Congressional District race

Republican Congressman Tom McClintock defeated his Democratic challenger late Tuesday in the race for a newly drawn district that takes in areas previously represented by a Democrat.

By Wednesday, McClintock, 66, had more than 60% of the votes in California’s 5th Congressional District with more than 51% of the vote counted, according to the Associated Press. His Democratic opponent, lawyer and accountant Mike Barkley, gathered almost 40%.

McClintock, who has represented California in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2009, was honored with an “Award for Conservative Excellence” from the American Conservative Union this year. The influential group gave him 100% score on crucial votes, including opposition to the impeachment of former President Donald Trump and opposition and formation of the select committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

The Elk Grove Republican currently represents California’s 4th Congressional District, which covers parts of 10 counties stretching from Truckee through Roseville to the Sequoia National Forest. This district will disappear at the start of the next congressional session when new maps, drawn as part of the 2020 redistricting, take effect.

California’s new 5th Congressional District captures parts of Modesto, Turlock and Fresno along with the western Sierra Nevada. It combines parts of districts currently represented by McClintock, Democratic Congressman Josh Harder and Republican Congresswoman Connie Conway, who replaced retired Rep. Devin Nunes this summer.

Voters in the new 5th would have backed Trump in 2020 with by a 12% margin, according to several election-tracking organizations.

Trump endorsed McClintock this year, saying the congressman was “working harder than ever” after the death of his wife, Lori McClintock. She passed away last December after suffering “adverse effects” related to an herbal supplement, according to the Sacramento County coroner’s report.

Who is Tom McClintock?

McClintock is a staunchly conservative, and at times extreme, voice on the powerful House Judiciary Committee. He opposed studying reparations for Black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved and chastised Democrats in 2019 impeachment hearings for looking to undermine Trump since before he was sworn in.

While he denounced violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, he did not vote to impeach Trump.

After the Jan. 6 Committee started its hearings this summer, McClintock assailed proceedings as one-sided on the House floor, calling them “a Soviet-style show trial, all carefully choreographed by an ABC television producer.”

“Insurrection?” he said in June. “The constitutional process immediately resumed once these yay-hoos were kicked out of the building. Do the Democrats actually expect us to believe that some lunatic wearing buffalo horns was moments away from seizing control of our government?”

The California Republican vehemently opposed COVID restrictions, comparing rules imposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to the “mass hysteria” encouraged in the Salem witch trials.

At times, the congressman has bucked the GOP, notably in votes to decriminalize marijuana. He was one of seven Republicans who did not support challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6.

McClintock is set to lead the Judiciary Committee’s immigration and citizenship subcommittee, if the GOP, as expected, controls the House in 2023. He is currently the top Republican in the group, which holds hearings and writes legislation on border security, immigration reform and admission of refugees. McClintock supports tightened border security.

McClintock was first elected to California’s State Assembly for a district covering Thousand Oaks in 1982 and served for a decade. After failed bids for Congress in 1992 and controller in 1994, he ran for the Assembly again in 1996. He was in the State Senate from 2000 to 2008.

He ran unsuccessfully in the 2003 gubernatorial recall election against then-Gov. Gray Davis. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won.

McClatchy DC’s David Lightman and Sacramento Bee reporter Maya Miller contributed to this story.