Race for Devin Nunes’ old House seat will move to June 7 runoff

By Maeve Reston, CNN

Republican Connie Conway and Democrat Lourin Hubbard are headed to a runoff in the special primary election in California’s 22nd Congressional District, CNN projects.

The outcome creates a sharp ideological contest between a staunch Republican in Conway, a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, and a progressive Democrat in Hubbard, who championed an economic agenda with policies that go well beyond even what Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed as a presidential candidate.

Conway bested a field of six candidates looking to replace former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes in a Central Valley district that stretches from east of Fresno south through the farming communities that surround Visalia. But she was unable to win the majority that would have been required to avoid a June 7 runoff featuring the top two vote-getters.

Four Republicans and two Democrats were competing on a single ballot in the election to replace Nunes, a close ally of Trump who resigned in January to head the Trump Media & Technology Group.

As ballots continue to be tallied in portions of Fresno and Tulare counties Friday, Conway was leading the field with 35%, Hubbard was in second with about 19%, followed by Republican Matt Stoll with 16% and Democrat Eric Garcia with 14%.

Conway was the best-known of the six candidates. She represented many of the region’s voters as a former Tulare County supervisor and onetime minority leader in the state Assembly. She presented herself as a strong backer of Trump and the one best-suited to fill the remaining months of Nunes’ term because of her relationships with lawmakers throughout California and in Washington. In 2019, Trump appointed her to serve as California’s executive director for the USDA Farm Service Agency.

Republicans have long held the edge in the district, but it has become increasingly competitive in recent years. In the most recent breakdown of party registration available from the state, nearly 39% of voters in the current 22nd District were registered Republicans, 34% were Democrats and 20% listed “no party preference.”

Special election voters casting their ballots for Republicans have vastly outpaced those who backed Democrats in the count so far, with the four Republican candidates combining for 66% of the vote as of Friday to 34% for the Democrats. That contrasts to 2020 when Nunes won a 10th term by 8 points while Trump was carrying the district by 5 points over Joe Biden.

Hubbard, a manager at the state water resources control board, touted his outsider bona fides after his runoff spot was called Friday.

“I was never the establishment candidate for this office. Our campaign started around my family’s kitchen table, where we came together as a community to tackle the issues we face everyday,” he said in a statement Friday. “If we can turn Devin Nunes’ seat blue, we can do anything in 2022.”

The 22nd District vacancy has created an unusual situation because Nunes’ successor is likely to only serve for a few months in Congress. The district was dismantled by California’s nonpartisan redistricting commission when it redrew the state’s new congressional map. Under the new lines, much of the current district will become part of the new 21st District, anchored by Fresno, where veteran Democratic Rep. Jim Costa is the front-runner in the race to hold what is considered a safe seat for his party.

In part because of the brevity of the assignment, the special election to replace Nunes was congenial, focusing largely on local issues such as drought and the struggle to get more water to farmers and communities in the Central Valley.

The major divide among the Republican candidates was between those who said they were only focused on the Nunes seat and those who were simultaneously seeking another congressional office for the term that begins in 2023.

Conway argued that voters should support her because she would serve in a “caretaker” role and not use the office as a “stepping stone” to another congressional office, promising to focus on unfinished district work, including helping constituents troubleshoot problems with Social Security benefits and passport delays.

Three of the candidates — Stoll, Garcia and Republican Michael Maher — were also seeking to represent the new 21st District, challenging Costa on the June ballot for the regular two-year term that begins in 2023.

Conway and Hubbard will now meet in the second round on June 7 — the same day that California holds its statewide primary election.

In an interview with CNN before Tuesday’s primary, Conway expressed her desire to try to address water shortages in the Central Valley that have devastated the region’s farmers, noting her frustration with the string of lawsuits from “extreme environmentalists” and the amount of time that has passed without a compromise that would allow the region’s agricultural industry to thrive.

She noted that she was one of the co-authors of California’s 2014 water bond that allowed state officials to borrow billions of dollars for water storage projects, including dams and reservoirs, and provided resources to address groundwater contamination.

She also highlighted her work across the aisle in the California state legislature, working on initiatives like replenishing the state’s rainy day fund with former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.

“I’ve had many opportunities that the voters graciously gave me and I’ve learned from those,” she said. “I’m not a lifelong politician. I was 50 years old when I got elected to the Board of Supervisors — so it was a quick study. I think when younger people, when they get elected, they think they have more time. I said, ‘No, I’m here to work.'”

Hubbard, like Conway, is not seeking another congressional office.

He told CNN in an interview that he favors eliminating all federal taxes on overtime to help lower- and middle-income families. He supports canceling student loan debt, favors tuition-free community college, and would also like to see “debt-free public college” where the state and federal government defray the costs of four-year public universities.

Hubbard said he believes that the federal government should guarantee every person in America a union job that pays at least $20 an hour, and he is shaping a proposal that would ask the government to pay off up to $25,000 or $50,000 of medical debt for some American families to help alleviate the financial pressures that many are feeling.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

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