WASHINGTON — Republican Vince Fong of California was sworn into Congress on Monday after winning a special election to complete the remainder of the term of deposed former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Fong was a member of the California State Assembly before running for the House. He was backed by former President Donald Trump and McCarthy, who watched the ceremony in person from the House floor. Fong’s swearing-in gives Republicans a 218-213 majority.
Fong told Spectrum News that he looked forward to working across the aisle.
“I work with anyone to tackle our challenges. We’ve got to tackle them head on. We’ve got to be adults in the room, as someone who’s come from Sacramento served in the Super minority, you know, we’ve didn’t have the luxury of picking sides,” he said. “We had to bring people together to build a coalition bigger than we ever had to build before to pass legislation in California. I’ll take that same work ethic here in Washington, D.C. I’ve got friends on both sides of the aisle. I look forward to maximizing those relationships and, and delivering real results for not only California, but for the American people.”
Fong said that as he has traveled his Central Valley-based congressional district, he heard that Congress must do more to address the U.S.-Mexico border, stop the rising cost of everyday essentials and work to keep communities safe, among other priorities.
“I know that our concerns are very familiar with the concerns that all of you have heard,” Fong said. “We must do more to find solutions and deliver results.”
Fong told Spectrum News he was “very grateful that voters of the 20th Congressional District gave me this opportunity. Again, our country, our state, is in crisis. And we’ve got so much work to do. And so I’m excited for this opportunity, going to hit the ground running day one, and we’ll just do the best we can to deliver the results and make the Central Valley a better place to live and work.”
Fong defeated fellow Republican and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux in a special election last month in the 20th Congressional District, in the state’s farm belt.
McCarthy is the only speaker in history to be voted out of the job. About two months after that historic vote, he opted to resign rather than serve out the remainder of his term. He has worked behind the scenes to promote Fong’s candidacy — a political action committee linked to McCarthy steered over $700,000 into the 20th District contest to boost Fong’s campaign.
Fong said he wanted to especially thank McCarthy, calling him a mentor and friend and saying “he has worked tirelessly for decades on behalf of the constituents of the Central Valley of California and our nation.”
Fong told Spectrum News that McCarthy had given him some advice.
“We spoke a number of times over the past few weeks. And he… just says, you know, be authentic, be who you are, and just work hard. Roll up your sleeves, you know, that was at the time for flashing people, now’s the time to actually have workhorses that will hit the ground running and tackle the challenges that the American people expect. We’ve got, you know, a laundry list of crises, and we’ve got to tackle them all at the same time. We have no room for error. We have no time to waste. That’s been my focus.”
Fong added that along from McCarthy, he also learned from Rep. Bill Thomas.
“I learned from a number of my friends and mentors that I’ve served with that, you know, decisions were made with or without you, and you’ve got to be in the room with those decisions are made,” Fong said. “You gotta be the first one in and the last one to leave. Important decisions are being put together and going to be at the table. For me, I focus to be the most effective voice for the Central Valley to elevate the Central Valley’s priorities and make them national priorities. And so I focus on learning from both of them is just to be at the table and work as hard as possible.”