Kevin Kiley, Kermit Jones will vie for Third District congressional seat in November
Democrat Kermit Jones and Republican Kevin Kiley, two of their party’s rising stars, will face each other for the new Third District congressional seat, a race that will test the strength of former President Donald Trump’s continued appeal to California Republicans.
Jones, a physician and Navy veteran, had 39.4% in unofficial returns early Wednesday. Kiley, an assemblyman from Rocklin, was second with 36.5%. Trailing was Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones with 17%.
Under the state’s primary system, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the November general election. Kiley and Scott Jones were expected to be in a tighter race, but Kiley had more than twice as many votes in Placer County.
Scott Jones ended his campaign Wednesday, calling Kiley “to offer my congratulations and my support.”
The district, newly drawn based on 2020 census data, is being closely watched in a year when Republicans need a net gain of five seats to win control of the House. It stretches from Plumas County in the northeast corner of the state, through Sacramento’s suburbs and south to Inyo County, between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Nevada border. The district is rated by independent analysts as a likely Republican win in November.
The contest pitted Kiley, who last month won Trump’s endorsement, against tough-on-crime Scott Jones, the Sacramento County sheriff for the last 12 years. They faced Kermit Jones, who stressed the need for a more efficient health care system and kept his distance from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Kevin Kiley
Kiley had the support of both Trump, who has endorsed dozens of candidates around the country and seven other Republicans in California as he tries to flex his political muscle, and much of the California Republican establishment. In his corner was the state Republican Party, five county GOPs and former Gov. Pete Wilson.
His campaign was in many ways a continuation of the effort he waged last year to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Though that bid failed by a huge margin — Kiley finished a distant sixth among those seeking to replace the governor — it drew the attention of Trump, who narrowly won the district in 2020.
“No one has fought Gavin Newsom harder than Kevin. He doesn’t wait for the fight, like the do-nothing RINOs who have watched California get absolutely destroyed by the radical maniacs in Sacramento,” Trump said in his May 14 endorsement. RINOs are Republicans in name only.
Kiley has continued to rail against what he sees as an unresponsive, inefficient state government under Democratic control.
As he pushed the legislature to suspend the state’s gasoline tax, Kiley warned more financial pain is coming.
“At the current pace we’ll have $10/gallon gas and a $1 million median home price by next year. No wonder most Californians say the American Dream is dead,” he tweeted. California has had the nation’s highest average gasoline prices, topping $6 a gallon last month.
Scott Jones
Scott Jones also campaigned as a tough conservative with ties to Trump. An ad pledged to “Make America safe again,” a not-so-subtle play on Trump’s “Make America Great Again.” It also showed Jones at a White House meeting on immigration with Trump.
Trump was said to be impressed by Kiley’s resume–he’s an Ivy League graduate–and annoyed that Jones renounced his support in October 2016, when the “Access Hollywood” tape revealed Trump making vulgar comments about women.
Jones, though, was well known in the region, thanks to his dozen years as sheriff. He stressed other issues that resonated across the country, involving crime and border security. Jones had the backing of Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican who represented much of the area. McClintock is running in the new Fifth District this year.
After Trump’s endorsement of Kiley, Jones told The Bee: “It is disappointing but changes little about my campaign or the issues that I’m passionate about.”
Kermit Jones
Kermit Jones was the big Democratic alternative. He won support from labor and veterans’ groups, and raised more than $1.2 million this year, nearly as much as Kiley’s $1.4 million.
He tried to show he was not blindly partisan. He was passionate about improving health care access and quality. “We need a better partner at the federal level to do what we want to do for our patients, to deal with some of these hard problems,” he told The Bee. “I look at the federal government for the greatest way for us to come together.”
Among his ideas: “A lot of rural areas even if you have coverage you still can’t find a doctor. Still can’t find a nurse. Bring in health professionals to these underserved communities, give them care they need.”
He was careful not to be seen as closely tied to Pelosi, a favorite target of Republicans. Asked if he would back the San Francisco Democrat as House Democratic leader, he said, “That’s a tough question. I don’t know who else would be running.”
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 8:35 PM.
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