Race to Watch: Contest to replace former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes in central California

Voters are set to face a very defined choice in the contest to replace former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes in Central California: the candidates include a progressive Democrat who supports universal health care and a former appointee from the Trump administration.

Early returns released on Friday from a Tuesday special election showed that Democrat Lourin Hubbard took the second spot for a June runoff for the vacant seat. 

Hubbard will have to face Connie Conway, a former Republican leader in the California Assembly and the state’s representing executive director of the Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency during the Trump administration.

Conway received the most votes to advance on to the June battle. Hubbard received just under 20 percent, as his closest competitor for the second runoff spot, Republican Matt Stoll, quite a few points back.

Nunes, who had been one of former President Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters in Congress, resigned from his seat in the 22nd District earlier this year to head up Trump’s social media company.

The seat in the district, which leans Republican, appears likely to stay in GOP hands. Since none of the candidates was able to gather a majority of the vote on Tuesday and win straight out, just the top two finishers will advance to the runoff. 

That election will coincide with the statewide primary election set to take place on June 7. So far, the election for the vacant seat has been ignored nationally as both parties focus on midterm elections that will determine who controls Congress starting in 2023. Nunes’ surprising departure in January left California with an unusual situation.

The winner of the seat will serve just a few months in Congress, and the district will evaporate next year over redrawn boundaries.