Assemblyman Vince Fong’s Office–This past week, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber filed an “abandonment of appeal,” officially ending her case challenging the eligibility of Assemblyman Vince Fong to appear on the ballot for California’s 20th Congressional District. The decision to halt any further appeal in the case comes after two consecutive failed attempts to convince the courts to remove Fong from the ballot.
In response to the official end of the Secretary of State’s legal efforts, Assemblyman Fong released the following statement: “It bears repeating that the foundation of our democracy— the ability of the voters to choose— was preserved. The voters throughout the 20th Congressional District had their votes upheld.
I am so grateful for the outpouring of support I received from across our local communities throughout this process. We have just a few more weeks before the special election, and clearly, the momentum of our campaign continues to build. I look forward to connecting with voters in this final stretch as we work to ensure that our region has the most experienced and effective voice in Congress.”
Fong filed to run for Congress after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s resignation last December. After the candidate filing deadline closed, Secretary of State Weber removed Fong from the list of certified candidates for Congress in spite of the fact that he was duly nominated by voters for the position. On December 28th, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne W. L. Chang sided with Fong and ordered he be added back on the ballot as an eligible candidate for Congress. Fong went on to place first in the March 5th primary election with the support of over 66,000 Central Valley voters. The Secretary of State appealed the decision and her arguments were unanimously rejected by California’s 3rd District Court of Appeal on April 9th. The Secretary of State officially concluded the lawsuit by filing the abandonment of appeal on Tuesday, April 30th.
