# United States Representative, District 20 Compare records and positions simply between Sandra Van Scotter or Vince Fong for United States Representative, District 20 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (2-year term). - Jurisdiction: Federal - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-20 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 24, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 89 out of 100 (Strong), across 12 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Sandra Van Scotter** — Disability Community Advocate · Democratic - **Vince Fong** — United States Representative · Republican Representative Vince Fong took 68.2% of the June 2 vote and Democrat Sandra Van Scotter took 28.8%. The district covers Kern County and part of the southern San Joaquin Valley. The winner holds one of 435 seats in the U.S. House for a two-year term. A member introduces bills, sits on committees that shape federal legislation, votes on the federal budget and on war powers, and handles casework between constituents and federal agencies. A member of the minority party has less control over what reaches a vote. The incumbent has served since 2024 and draws the majority of his funding from committees. His opponent raised about one percent as much, more than half of it her own money. The practical question is what this district gets from a safe seat. ## Vince Fong Vince Fong represents California's 20th District, a seat he won in a May 2024 special election. Before that he served as district director to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy for nearly a decade, and spent eight years in the California State Assembly, where he was the first Asian American to represent Bakersfield in the state legislature (Wikipedia; fong.house.gov). In Congress he sits on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Science Space and Technology, and Homeland Security committees; his office lists water and infrastructure funding for Central Valley farmers and support for the military installations at China Lake, Edwards and Lemoore among his priorities (fong.house.gov). He argues that Washington's conversation about California is dominated by "urban interests," saying they "always dominate those conversations" (Turnto23). Before he could take his House seat, the Secretary of State moved to keep him off the ballot. He was running at once for reelection to the Assembly and for the special congressional election to replace McCarthy. Fong sued, arguing "the state cannot remove a duly qualified candidate." A Sacramento County judge ruled in his favor, and the Third District Court of Appeal later upheld that ruling (Turnto23). Fong said the dispute exposed "a conflict amongst the elections code" and said he backed legislation, Assembly Bill 1795, to close the gap (Turnto23). He promises continued funding for water infrastructure and domestic energy production. He has criticized California's high-speed rail project, saying voters "were told it was gonna be high-speed, which it is not" (Turnto23). His campaign site lists lower taxes, less regulation, support for law enforcement and tighter immigration enforcement among his priorities. He says he ran on a promise of "results, not more empty talk from Washington" (campaign site). **Strengths:** Wide margin in June and a documented record of fighting for the seat, including a court win that kept him on two ballots at once in 2024. **Trade-offs:** Only two years in Congress after a decade as a McCarthy staffer, so his own legislative record beyond that fight is still thin. **Keep in mind:** The 2024 ballot fight was over his own eligibility, not a policy dispute, but it is the clearest documented episode of him under real pressure. ## Sandra Van Scotter Sandra Van Scotter has worked for two decades as a respiratory therapist and now works as a direct support professional for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Ridgecrest (Turnto23). The State Council on Developmental Disabilities appointed her to advise the Kern Regional Center, which serves about 19,000 people across Kern, Inyo and Mono counties. Her campaign site says of her advocacy work, "She is not learning about these issues. She lives them," pointing to her own son's use of the regional center system (campaign site). She says she decided to run after watching her clients worry about possible cuts to Medicaid tied to the federal budget bill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Turnto23). Her campaign says the district "has been invisible for too long," arguing neighbors deserve a representative who "answers the phone, holds Town Halls, and fights like it's personal" (campaign site). She has not held elected office, so her record is her advocacy work and her public statements rather than a voting history. She promises to "fight to protect and expand coverage for every Californian." She says water infrastructure is her top legislative focus, with a pledge to reintroduce or co-sponsor water bill packages for the Central Valley (campaign site; Turnto23). She says representation "is not a privilege" but "the job" (campaign site). **Strengths:** A documented advocacy record and a formal appointment to advise the regional center serving three counties, plus specific plans for what she would push for in Congress. **Trade-offs:** No record in elected office, so voters have her advocacy career and campaign statements to judge rather than any votes. **Keep in mind:** Coverage of this race is thin outside her own campaign material and one candidate forum; the disability appointment and the Medicaid concern are the most solid documented facts available. ## Record in office Sandra Van Scotter has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Vince Fong (Republican) has served in the U.S. House since 2024 and has sponsored 16 bills in the 119th Congress; none of their bills have become law so far. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Fong — Committees: Homeland Security; Science, Space, and Technology; Transportation and Infrastructure Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Sandra Van Scotter** — $17,086 raised (Individuals: $7,179; Self-funding: $9,907) - **Vince Fong** — $1,849,356 raised (Individuals: $784,600; PACs & committees: $894,497) Total raised is all receipts for the 2026 cycle; the breakdown lists direct contributions, so the pieces can sum below the total. Figures are FEC filings through June 30, 2026, per the FEC bulk campaign-finance summaries, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Review notes - Vince Fong for Congress and Elect Sandra Van Scotter may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 3. [Rep. Vince Fong — About (official biography, committee assignments)](https://fong.house.gov/about) 4. [Wikipedia — Vince Fong (career timeline and 2024 dual-candidacy dispute)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Fong) 5. [Vince Fong for Congress — campaign site (priorities and promises)](https://vincefong.com) 6. [23ABC/Turnto23 — Back on the ballot: Judge Chang sides with Fong](https://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/back-on-the-ballot-judge-chang-sides-with-fong) 7. [23ABC/Turnto23 — Fong reacts to appellate court upholding previous ruling in favor of his nomination](https://www.turnto23.com/news/in-your-neighborhood/bakersfield/fong-reacts-to-appellate-court-upholding-previous-ruling-in-favor-of-his-nomination) 8. [23ABC/Turnto23 — Four candidates for California's 20th Congressional District make their case ahead of the 2026 primary (used for direct quotes from Fong and Van Scotter)](https://www.turnto23.com/news/in-your-neighborhood/bakersfield/four-candidates-for-californias-20th-congressional-district-make-their-case-ahead-of-the-2026-primary) 9. [Elect Sandra Van Scotter — campaign site (biography, advocacy work, priorities)](https://www.electsandravanscotter.com) 10. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 11. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 12. [FEC — 2026 House & Senate current-campaign financial summaries (bulk data)](https://www.fec.gov/files/bulk-downloads/2026/webl26.zip) ## The rest of the ballot United States Representative, District 20 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "United States Representative, District 20 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-20 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.