Kiley maintains lead in California congressional race

By Chris Woodward
The Center Square

With less than a month to go in the vote count, U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley continues to hold onto the lead in the race for California Congressional District 6.

According to the California Secretary of State’s website, Kiley, an independent from Rocklin, has 46,921 votes or 24.3%.

Democratic candidate Richard Pan, a pediatrician, has 44,805 votes or 23.2%.

Republican Michael Stansfield, an applications engineer and author, is in third with 38,823 votes or 20.1%.

There are 25 days remaining in the counting process.

Under California law, the two candidates with the greatest number of votes in the June 2 primary, regardless of party affiliation, will go on to the Nov. 3 general election.

District 6 includes portions of Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties. Formerly known as District 3, the area was redrawn to favor Democrats. Currently 415 ballots remain uncounted in Placer County compared to Sacramento County’s 3,216 and Yolo County’s 1,036. Together, they make up 4,667 ballots.

Other candidates on the ballot are Democrats Lauren Babb Tomlinson (12.3%), Thien Ho (10.7%), Martha Guerrero (7.9%), and Tyler Vandenberg (1.6%).

Kiley was first elected to Congress as a Republican but changed to an independent earlier this year. He continues to caucus with Republicans.

“The reason for my change is because I think partisanship has gotten out of control in Congress, and it’s really doing great damage to our country,” Kiley told The Center Square in April. “Of course, the redistricting war is a very clear manifestation of that.”

In May, Kiley told The Center Square that the No. 1 issue for him was cost of living.

“We lead the nation in highest gas prices, highest electricity prices, with water and housing and groceries, and much of that is because of overreaching state policies, which are not well adapted to what will make things affordable in our state,” Kiley said.

According to AAA, the average price in the Golden State on Monday was $5.74 a gallon, far above the national average of $4.06.

“I’m doing everything I can to restore some balance, to bring prices down, to serve as a check and balance on some of these runaway policies,” Kiley said in May. “And I think we’ve had some success in doing that, but we certainly have a long way to go to make things more affordable in California.

California’s economic problems include the nation’s highest unemployment rate and homelessness.

Pan is scheduled to have a press conference Tuesday in Sacramento.

“Following the June primary election, CA-06 is one of Democrats’ strongest pickup opportunities in the country,” said the Pan for Congress campaign in a press release. “The decisive passage of Proposition 50 has further strengthened Democrats’ position in the district, creating a clear path to victory in November.”

Last week, Pan was added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program. The Pan campaign said this underscores the race’s growing national significance.