Vince Fong, Mike Boudreaux advances to runoff for Kevin McCarthy's seat, AP projects

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Assemblyman Vince Fong and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux advance to a May election to decide who will complete the remainder of former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's term.

The video above is from an earlier story and will be updated.

California's 20th Congressional District has been without a representative since the beginning of the year after McCarthy resigned from Congress.

Fong and Boudreaux are already heading to the general election in November, competing for a full term in office.

Fong was the first to advance to the May 21 special election. He is also awaiting litigation as the California Secretary of State asked the court to remove Fong from the November ballot because he already running for reelection for the State Assembly.

"The challenge for me, really, is trying to reassure people in Kern that we're going to represent the entire district, including Kern. It's very strong, 50 percent of the votes are in Kern," explained Boudreaux.

The 20th district is one of the most conservative in the state -- which is why two Republicans are showing up at the top.

"With 47% Republican, it would be difficult to challenge whoever comes out on top. It's a good race; I hope it's a clean race," said Connie Conway, a GOP political analyst.

Because of that, there's cross-party support for both candidates, and it's something even Democrats outside of the district are paying attention to.

"As a Democrat, I'm looking for which of the two we could possibly work within a more bipartisan way. I think people will watch closely after this election to see which of the two we can work with come January," said Henry Perea, a Democratic political analyst.

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