(The Center Square) – U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Rocklin, has a slight edge over the competition in the race for Congressional District 6 in California.
Kiley emerged with 24.9% of the vote at 9:50 p.m. Pacific time with 100% of precincts partially reporting.
Democrat Richard Pan was close behind at 22.7%. Republican Michael Stansfield has 21.4%.
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. On Tuesday night, those candidates appeared to be Kiley and Pan.
Formerly known as District 3, the area was redrawn to favor Democrats.
Kiley was first elected to Congress as a Republican but changed to an independent earlier this year. He is continuing 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.”
Other candidates on the ballot are Democrats Lauren Babb Tomlinson, Thien Ho, Tyler Vandenberg and Martha Guerrero.
Tomlinson is chief public affairs officer at Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte. Ho is the Sacramento County district attorney. Pan is a pediatrician. Vandenberg is a Marine veteran. Guerrero is the mayor of West Sacramento.
Stansfield, the lone Republican in the race, is an applications engineer and author.
Kiley was listed as “No Party Preference” on the California Secretary of State’s ballot information.
